Zachary Zimmer
Poverty, wealth inequality and health among older adults in rural Cambodia
University of Utah
little research exists health determinants among adults living economically deprived regions despite fact areas comprise good part world paper examines distribution wealth tests associations wealth inequality variety health outcomes among older adults one worlds poorest regionsrural cambodia data 2004 survey elderly cambodia employed using disablement framework conceptualize health associations four health components wealth inequality measure tested wealth inequality measure based index operationalizes wealth ownership household assets household structural components results confirm difficult economic conditions rural cambodia lowest wealth quintile lives households nothing next quintiles slightly better nevertheless logistic regressions adjust covariates indicate heterogeneity health across quintiles appear qualitatively similar bottom quintiles reporting health problems exception disability presents ushaped association difficult determine mechanisms behind relationship using crosssectional data paper speculates possible causal directions wealth health viceversa analysis suggests ability generalize relationship wealth inequality health extremely poor populations small difference wealth makes relatively large difference respect health associations among meager surroundings