Development of two socioeconomic indices for Saudi Arabia.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Health and socioeconomic status (SES) are linked in studies worldwide. Measures of SES exist for many countries, however not for Saudi Arabia (SA). We describe two indices of area-based SES for SA.

Methods

Routine census data has been used to construct two indices of SES at the geographically-delimited administrative region of Governorates in SA (n = 118). The data used included indicators of educational status, employment status, car and material ownership. A continuous measure of SES was constructed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and a categorical measure of SES using latent class analysis (LCA). Both indices were mapped by Governorates.

Results

The EFA identified three factors: The first explained 51.58% of the common variance within the interre

SUBMITTER: AlOmar RS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6019717 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature