Socioeconomic Inequalities and Intergenerational Support in Functional Health in Brazilian Older Adults

Abstract

There is a growing concern as socioeconomic inequalities affect health outcomes in an older population. Ageing in Brazil occurs in the context of deep and persistent income, gender and ethnic inequalities and intensely challenging health, retirement and social protection systems. Using data from the 2019-PNS Survey, socioeconomic inequalities in functional health and intergenerational support of care for non-institutionalized older Brazilians stratified by household income deciles and sex were examined. Inequality indexes reveal significant socioeconomic inequalities in functional health among older Brazilian adults. Across inequality indexes, the poorest in both sexes consistently show a higher prevalence rate in mild BADLs limitations than the wealthiest. In severe BADLs limitations, these differences are not clearly stated, and it depends on the sex and type of BADLs involved. Intergenerational care favoured the wealthiest deciles across inequality indexes. Consistently and significantly in both sexes, the wealthiest received more family caregiving in both BADLs limitation categories than the poorest; however, in men, their magnitude differences were lesser and statistically significant in the 10/10 and 20/20 indexes. These findings highlight the need for national policies and programs to decrease socioeconomic inequalities during early adulthood and reduce limitations in functional health later in life, particularly in the poorest.