A revised scoring scheme for the classification of socio-economic status in Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Researchers in medicine and related fields in Nigeria have usually made recourse to the instrument developed by Olusanya et al and Oyedeji in the past three-and-a half decades for determination of socioeconomic status (SES). Beside the question of their age, however, these instruments were purposive and might no longer be suitable because of the changes in the parameters on which they were based.Objective: To develop a robust but generic scheme that takes into consideration the changes in the nation’s socioeconomic space in the succeeding three and a half decades.Methods: A detailed and comprehensive review of the extant schemes was undertaken with a view to identifying their inherent weaknesses. The latter were then factored into the design of a new scheme taking into consideration the emergent restructuring of career positions in the civil/public service as well as the place of private and informal sectors of the economy. The new scheme was validated at the University of Beninand Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospitals.Results: The new scheme had a remarkably high Inter-rater reliability (r = 0.947, p<0.001), raterre- rater reliability (r = 0.984, p <0.001) and % agreement (with modified Oyedeji’s tool as standard) of 67% (K coefficient = 0.47, r = 0.71, p<0.001)Conclusion/Recommendation: The new scheme could be a viable tool for the assessment of SES of families and individuals, which not only takes into consideration current realities of the nation’s economy, but also is readily adaptable to meet foreseeable changes.

Acute kidney injury is more common in hospitalised children with sickle cell anaemia in Africa

“…We assessed the socio‐economic class of each participant using the Oyedeji classification system 15 . It is one of the most commonly used scoring systems for assessing socio‐economic status of children in research in Nigeria 16 . The SES is the mean of the scores assigns to the educational attainment and occupation of the child's parents.…”

“…15 It is one of the most commonly used scoring systems for assessing socio-economic status of children in research in Nigeria. 16 The SES is the mean of the scores assigns to the educational attainment and occupation of the child's parents. A score of 1-2 corresponds to high social economic class while 4-5 means low socio-economic class.…”

Diabetic Ketoacidosis in Children with Type-1 Diabetes in a Tertiary Hospital in Sokoto, North-Western Nigeria: Clinical Profile and Outcome

“…3 [22]. Socioeconomic status of the families was determined using the Revised Scoring Scheme for classification of socio-economic status, by Ibadin and Akpede [23]. The social class was determined by combining the highest educational attainment and occupation of the parents, and the mean of the four scores (2 for the mother and 2 for the father) to the nearest whole number was the social class assigned to the family.…”

Prevalence of and risk factors for iron deficiency among pregnant women with moderate or severe anaemia in Nigeria: a cross-sectional study

“…Household socioeconomic status (SES) is a measure of an individual or family's access to resources and it in uences health-related outcomes and exposures (37). It was de ned using the Nigerian classi cation system by Ibadin et al (2021) taking into consideration the participant and her male partner's (excluded for the unmarried) occupation and level of education, and which generates scores of 1-6; 1 indicating the highest grade and 6 the lowest grade (38). All participants who had a nal score of 1-2 were categorised as being in upper socioeconomic class, nal score of 3-4 as middle class, and 5-6 as lower socioeconomic class (38).…”