Developing feasible measures of wealth in studies of health

Background. Simpler approaches to wealth measurement could be beneficial for population-based health research, making it more feasible to include such measures in health surveys. Methods. Data from the Survey of Consumer Finances (2004, ages 25-64) and the Health and Retirement Survey (2004, ages 50+) were used to assess correlations between ten different simpler measures of wealth and the standard measure, net worth, and whether results would be similar in models relating wealth to health status and smoking, depending on whether wealth was measured by net worth or a simpler measure. Results. In both data sets, and for both health indicators, multiple simpler wealth measures resulted in similar conclusions about the association between wealth and health, as when using net worth. The magnitude and significance of the odds ratios were similar for the covariates in multivariate models, and the model fit statistics were similar, when using these simpler measures compared with net worth. Conclusions. The results suggest that simpler measures of wealth may be acceptable in population-based studies of health.