Desigualdades relacionadas à renda dos estilos de vida da população brasileira: uma análise com base na Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde 2013

Abstract

Recently, some studies have shown the importance of verifying the existence of income-related health inequalities. Other studies have also shown that there is a strong relationship between inequality in health and concentration of unhealthy lifestyles among poorer people, which may aggravate the vicious circle of poverty. In Brazil, there are no studies that have verified a concentration of those lifestyles. This study, therefore, aims to understand how those lifestyles are distributed in Brazilian's population and, also, verify where these lifestyles are concentrated. It also aims to identify associated factors in lifestyles that may aggravate health and social disparities. The method that has been used to verify the existence of inequalities in health behaviors is a calculation of concentration index. In addition, this index is decomposed into factors that may be associated with lifestyles, in order to determinate which of them may contribute to aggravate or to soften its concentration. Using data from Brazilian National Health Survey in 2013, five lifestyles were selected among healthy and unhealthy (physical exercise, abusive and habitual consumption of alcohol, smoking and smoking cessation). As main results, it was observed that unhealthy lifestyles tend to be concentrated among the poorest, as truly as healthy lifestyles are among the richest. The only exception that violates this rule is habitual alcohol consumption. Income, educational level and health care are the factors that, in general, contribute most to the existence of inequalities observed here. Public policies that reduce differences in income, access to education and information, and that guarantee access to health care can have an impact on reducing inequalities in lifestyles.