RESEARCH ARTICLE Age- and Sex-Specific Relationships between Household Income, Education, and Diabetes Mellitus in Korean Adults: The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey,

Background To investigate the effects of age and sex on the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and the prevalence and control status of diabetes mellitus (DM) in Korean adults. Methods Data came from 16,175 adults (6,951 men and 9,227 women) over the age of 30 who partic-ipated in the 2008-2010 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. SES was measured by household income or education level. The adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and cor-responding 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CI) for the prevalence or control status of diabe-tes were calculated using multiple logistic regression analyses across household income quartiles and education levels. Results The household income-DM and education level-DM relationships were significant in youn-ger age groups for both men and women. The adjusted ORs and 95 % CI for diabetes were 1.51 (0.97, 2.34) and 2.28 (1.29, 4.02) for the lowest vs. highest quartiles of household in-come and education level, respectively, in women younger than 65 years of age (both P for linear trend< 0.05 with Bonferroni adjustment). The adjusted OR and 95 % CI for diabete