TY - JOUR
T1 - Measuring health vulnerability
T2 - an interdisciplinary indicator applied to mainland portugal
AU - Oliveira, Gisela M.
AU - Vidal, Diogo Guedes
AU - Ferraz, Maria Pia
AU - Cabeda, José Manuel
AU - Pontes, Manuela
AU - Maia, Rui Leandro
AU - Calheiros, José Manuel
AU - Barreira, Esmeralda
N1 - Funding Information:
SEHVI was designed in the scope of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with the purpose to evaluate how socioeconomic and environmental determinants constrain life conditions, namely health and wellbeing outcomes. Variables selection was supported by several official documents [36-38]. This selection took into consideration the availability of data, time-series to enable monitoring progress in time, and the adequacy of the variables in order to aggregate measurable indicators that translate populations’ life conditions. The main goal of SEHVI is to analyze the Portuguese reality at local level (municipalities), based on demographic, education, income, housing, work, environmental conditions, and culture investments. Local specificities and constraints are different across the country, making the diagnosis of local life conditions a much-needed goal. Data were collected from different Portuguese official statistic databases—INE (National Statistics Institute), PORDATA (Contemporary Portuguese database), and APA (Environment Portuguese Agency)—and disaggregated at the municipal level. A database was created to analyze gaps in time series and missing values for all variables. At the municipal scale, only 35 variables combined availability of data for the entire mainland geographical coverage and for a timeline.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2019/11
Y1 - 2019/11
N2 - Health promotion and inequality reduction are specific goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda, which are interconnected with several dimensions of life. This work proposes a composite index SEHVI—socioeconomic health vulnerability index—to address Portuguese population socioeconomic determinants that affect health outcomes. Variables composing SEHVI are aligned with the sustainable development goals considering data and times series availability to enable progress monitoring, and variables adequacy to translate populations’ life conditions affecting health outcomes. Data for 35 variables and three periods were collected from official national databases. All variables are part of one of the groups: Health determinants (social, economic, cultural, and environmental factors) and health outcomes (mortality indicators). Variables were standardized and normalized by “Distance to a reference” method and then aggregated into the SEHVI formula. Several statistical procedures for validation of SEHVI revealed the internal consistency of the index. For all municipalities, SEHVI was calculated and cartographically represented. Results were analyzed by statistical tests and compared for three years and territory typologies. SEHVI differences were found as a function of population density, suggesting inequalities of communities’ life conditions and in vulnerability to health.
AB - Health promotion and inequality reduction are specific goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda, which are interconnected with several dimensions of life. This work proposes a composite index SEHVI—socioeconomic health vulnerability index—to address Portuguese population socioeconomic determinants that affect health outcomes. Variables composing SEHVI are aligned with the sustainable development goals considering data and times series availability to enable progress monitoring, and variables adequacy to translate populations’ life conditions affecting health outcomes. Data for 35 variables and three periods were collected from official national databases. All variables are part of one of the groups: Health determinants (social, economic, cultural, and environmental factors) and health outcomes (mortality indicators). Variables were standardized and normalized by “Distance to a reference” method and then aggregated into the SEHVI formula. Several statistical procedures for validation of SEHVI revealed the internal consistency of the index. For all municipalities, SEHVI was calculated and cartographically represented. Results were analyzed by statistical tests and compared for three years and territory typologies. SEHVI differences were found as a function of population density, suggesting inequalities of communities’ life conditions and in vulnerability to health.
KW - Composite indicators
KW - Health determinants
KW - Health inequalities
KW - Health outcomes
KW - Rural
KW - Spatially distribution
KW - Sustainable development goals
KW - Urban disparity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85074327547&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph16214121
DO - 10.3390/ijerph16214121
M3 - Article
C2 - 31731572
AN - SCOPUS:85074327547
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 16
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
IS - 21
M1 - 4121
ER -
