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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Health Economics
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1588325
This article is part of the Research Topic Integrating Economics into Population Health: Assessing Policies and Outcomes View all articles
Income Inequality and Multimorbidity Patterns in China: A Micro-Level Analysis Using CHARLS
Provisionally accepted- 1 Guangdong Institute of Public Administration, Guangzhou, China
- 2 Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, United States
- 3 Department of Anesthesiology, Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical University, Guangdong, China
Health inequality-particularly income-related health inequality-poses a global challenge, significantly affecting social and economic well-being. While previous research has investigated the link between income inequality and various health outcomes, including chronic diseases, studies focusing on multimorbidity remain limited. This study examines how income inequality affects multimorbidity in China, drawing on data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. By employing the Kakwani Index, the analysis evaluates income inequality at the individual level and utilizes Latent Class Analysis to identify multimorbidity patterns. The research further explores how these effects vary across different age groups and regions. The study investigates the role of household economic decisions in shaping health outcomes. RIF regression is used to break down the contribution of income inequality to health disparities. Lower relative wage income was strongly associated with an increased number of chronic diseases and heightened likelihood of specific multimorbidity patterns, particularly Respiratory-Cardiovascular diseases and overall disease burden. Redistribution of income partially alleviated the negative impact of income inequality on health outcomes. The effects of income inequality on health differ notably across age groups and geographical regions. Developmental expenditures (e.g., improving living conditions) were more effective in addressing income-related health disparities than direct increases in healthcare spending. Policy responses need to focus on targeted income redistribution strategies and increased investment in developmental initiatives to address these growing health inequalities.
Keywords: multimorbidity, health inequality, Relative income, Kakwani index, CHARLS
Received: 05 Mar 2025; Accepted: 31 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ouyang, Liu and Xu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Riping Xu, Department of Anesthesiology, Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical University, Guangdong, China
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