The association between subjective socioeconomic status and health inequity in victims of occupational accidents in Korea

OBJECTIVES We aimed to investigate the health inequity of victims of occupational accidents through the association between socioeconomic status and unmet healthcare need. METHODS Data from the first and second Panel Study of Workers' Compensation Insurance were used, which included 1,803 participants. The odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals for the unmet healthcare needs of participants with a lower socioeconomic status and other socioeconomic statuses were investigated using multivariate regression analysis. RESULTS Among all participants, 103 had unmet healthcare needs, whereas 1,700 did not. After adjusting for sex, age, smoking, alcohol, chronic disease, recuperation duration, accident type, disability, and economic participation, the odds ratio of unmet healthcare needs in participants with a lower socioeconomic status was 2.04 (95% confidence interval 1.32-3.15) compared to participants with other socioeconomic statuses. CONCLUSIONS The victims of occupational accidents who have a lower socioeconomic status are more likely to have unmet healthcare needs in comparison to those with other socioeconomic statuses.