Socioeconomic Situation in a General Population of a Local Health Service. Comparison in two differents years, 1983 and 1987

Abstract

The socioeconomic situation of the South East Health District of the Metropolitan Region in Santiago, While, is analyzed, comparing data of two cross-sectional surveys in two independent random sample of the general population of the stud y area. The studies were done in 1983 and 1987 using Graffar method that breaks the stud y population in five categories according to a score, and measurement of person/bedroom and person/bed ratio. The sampling unit in both opportunities was the dwelling; sample size was 358 dwellings (accounting for 1744 persons) in 1983 and 210 dwellings (accounting for 946 persons) in 1987 with a family size of 4.8 and 4.5 respectly. A final score was obtained for each dwelling taking into account the method indicators. The comparison of the data from the two surveys showed no significant differences regarding Graffar global socre, person/bedroom and person/bed ratios, with the exceptiong of one Minicipality, La Granja, that showed a significant detriment since 1983 to 1987 in these indicators. Looking at specific indicators there is a significant decrease of family size from an average of 4.8 to 4.5 and a significant decrease of the population older than 15 years between the two years. The distribution of the final categories of socioeconómic status showed an accumulation of persons (48% and 40%) in the middle-low status, absence of highest categories in both studies, and significant (p<0.005) increase of the relativve importance of the lowest class from 15.9% in 1983 to 24.8% in 1987. The results give us important information that has to be considered in studies of the morbidity and mortality tendencies and its evolution in this Health Service.