Social determinants of Self-Rated Health among Polish women and men – results from the COURAGE in Europe project

The purpose of the paper is to identify and explore social determinants of health in women as compared to men. We used data from The Collaborative Research on Ageing in Europe (COURAGE in Europe) study. The study population consisted of 1,317 men and 1,921 women. The independent measure was Self-Rated Health (SRH) and the World Health Organisation Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0), which incorporates both condition of health and disability. To find determinants of WHODAS 2.0. linear regression model was performed and in the case of SRH the proportional odds model was used. Analysis showed that women’s SRH was significantly related to age, level of education. household income, type of occupation and family background. There was a similar relation observed amongst the male results. The analysis of the results indicates that socio-economic status is one of the main determinants of peoples’ health. This relation was observed for both women and men. As analysis shows, the level of financial situation during childhood changes SRH especially among women. For men’s health a more important variable was mother’s occupation.