The papers submitted to the session 03-17 included a large number of outstanding papers. There were 4 papers that focused on a very important theme that has for long been in the focus of population health research: what is the mechanism through which adverse socio-economic conditions influence ageing and health? These paper (1899, 2186, 4095, 5545), however, all address this important question with an innovative approach that focuses in particular on how *early life* socioeconomic adversity influences later-life health, and whether this effect is direct, or mediated by own later-life socioeconomic position. While these papers are all excellent, and they fit perfectly with the session theme, I was not able to accept them because of lack of space. Therefore I am proposing an additional session for this set of papers. These excellent papers cover a broad geographical area (Korea, Europe, U.S.), several important adult- and old-age health outcomes (cognitive functioning, obesity, health behaviors, and various indicators of successful ageing), and most importantly, they all analyze the pathway through which early life socioeconomic adversity is linked to these health outcomes. These excellent papers would deserve an oral presentation, and they form a consistent session that focuses on an important population health question that has strong policy implications. Therefore I strongly suggest that an additional session is granted for these papers.

The Lasting Impact of Childhood Circumstance on Obesity in Korea: Results from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007-2011

Abstract
In this paper, we investigate associations between socioeconomic conditions in childhood and adulthood and obesity/overweight status in adulthood utilizing the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) conducted in 2007–2009. Identifying factors that affect obesity/overweight status is increasingly important in Korea given the sharp rise in the prevalence of obesity/overweight during the past decades. Specifically, we assess (i) whether the inverse relationship between adult SES and obesity/overweight, which is commonly found in the United States and some European countries, is also observed in Korea; (ii) whether childhood SES is associated with obesity/overweight independent of adult SES; and (iii) whether these relationships vary by gender. The preliminary results show that there is a strong relationship between childhood SES and adult obesity among South Koreans, and adult SES attenuated this relationship in women only. We also find that men with lower childhood SES are likely to have lower risk of obesity while low childhood and low adult SES predict higher risk of obesity/overweight for women.
confirm funding
Event ID
17
Session
Early life socioeconomic adversity and later health
Session 2
Gender differences in health and mortality
Paper presenter
56 482
Type of Submissions
Regular session presentation, if not selected I agree to present my paper as a poster
Language of Presentation
English
First Choice History
Pathways to health: direct and indirect effects of early life conditions on later health
Initial First Choice
Pathways to health: direct and indirect effects of early life conditions on later health
Initial Second Choice
Gender differences in health and mortality
Weight in Programme
1 000
Status in Programme
1

Lifelong socio-economic position and later life health related behaviour: A causal mediation approach

Abstract
Population ageing is one of the dominant trends of the 21st century. Considering that morbidity is concentrated in the older population interventions to promote healthy ageing and healthy life expectancy are needed in order to offset the effects that ageing will have on population health. Health related behaviour use is a focal area for possible interventions since its association with various health outcomes is well documented. We used data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing with a formal approach for the identification of mediating factors in order to investigate the lifecourse socio-economic patterning of smoking, physical activity, dietary habits and alcohol use in later life. We observed socio-economic gradients in smoking, physical activity and alcohol use, but to a lesser extend in healthy dietary habits. Both early and later life socio-economic circumstances influenced health related behaviour, but these associations differed between men and women as well as between age groups. We found that early life circumstances influence behaviour either directly or indirectly 65 years after and their effect reaches until early old age. The complexity of the observed associations highlights the need for further research on the mechanism that underlies the links between SEP and later life health related behaviour.
confirm funding
Event ID
17
Session
Early life socioeconomic adversity and later health
Session 2
Life-course influences on health and mortality
Paper presenter
52 962
Type of Submissions
Regular session only
Language of Presentation
English
First Choice History
Pathways to health: direct and indirect effects of early life conditions on later health
Initial First Choice
Pathways to health: direct and indirect effects of early life conditions on later health
Initial Second Choice
Life-course influences on health and mortality
Weight in Programme
1 000
Status in Programme
1

The role of early- and midlife conditions for healthy aging in Europe

Abstract
We combined a life course perspective with a multilevel approach to analyze the impact of financial resources (both income and wealth) on self rated health over time in different countries and social systems. Therefore, we used the baseline interviews of the first two ways of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe and the third wave of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), and combined these data with the recently published retrospective interviews from SHARELIFE and the life histories from ELSA to take childhood conditions (socio-economic background, health) and conditions in adulthood (number of illnesses, unemployment spells) into account. Country level differences were measured in terms of income inequality (gini coefficient) in a society. To disentangle how childhood and adulthood factors as well as contextual influences affect old age health,, structural equation models were used. Results show that income inequality has a small positive indirect effect on individual health, while the direct effect is negative, indicating that health status is negatively affected by the unequal distribution of resources in a society.
confirm funding
Event ID
17
Session
Early life socioeconomic adversity and later health
Session 2
Life-course influences on health and mortality
Paper presenter
53 651
Type of Submissions
Regular session presentation, if not selected I agree to present my paper as a poster
Language of Presentation
English
First Choice History
Pathways to health: direct and indirect effects of early life conditions on later health
Initial First Choice
Pathways to health: direct and indirect effects of early life conditions on later health
Initial Second Choice
Life-course influences on health and mortality
Weight in Programme
1 000
Status in Programme
1

Lifecourse pathways to racial disparities in cognitive impairment among elderly Americans

Abstract
Cognitive impairment and dementia are major health problems confronting older persons. Blacks are especially hard hit by cognitive impairment and dementia in the U.S. It is estimated that among those aged 71 years and older Blacks were approximately two times more likely to have dementia than Whites. Despite developments in understanding the risk factors associated with cognitive impairment and dementia in recent years, very few population-level studies have investigated the origins and mechanisms through which the racial gap in cognitive impairment is produced. In this study, using data from 7 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (1998-2010), we analyzed how racial differences in cognitive impairment are tied to the racial stratification of childhood resources and health, adult socioeconomic status, health, and health behaviors among 9044 non-Hispanic Whites and Blacks aged 65 and older in 1998. Our preliminary results showed that older Blacks were about three times more likely to suffer from cognitive impairment than Whites in 1998, and childhood conditions including childhood health, parental education, and father's occupation as well as adult socioeconomic achievement played an important role in accounting for racial disparities in cognitive impairment in later life.
confirm funding
Event ID
17
Session
Early life socioeconomic adversity and later health
Session 2
Life-course influences on health and mortality
Paper presenter
49 826
Type of Submissions
Regular session presentation, if not selected I agree to present my paper as a poster
Language of Presentation
English
Transfer Status
2
First Choice History
Life-course influences on health and mortality
Initial First Choice
Life-course influences on health and mortality
Initial Second Choice
Pathways to health: direct and indirect effects of early life conditions on later health
Weight in Programme
1 000
Status in Programme
1
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