Determinantes socioeconómicos del estado de salud de infantes y adolescentes en el Ecuador.

Abstract

Health in childhood, as an element of human capital formation, has a lasting impact on a broad set of outcomes in adult life, such as: level of schooling, variation in wages and level of health. Although different studies suggest that biological and genetic factors determine most of the differences in children’s health status, the study of social and economic factors as determinants of health outcomes is still considered a fundamental area of economic research. Thus, the present research analyzes the socioeconomic factors that affect the level of health of Ecuadorian children and adolescents. To achieve this objective, using information from the 2018 National Health and Nutrition Survey, child and adolescent health indices are constructed and two multiple regression models are estimated. The results suggest that factors such as gender and body mass index of children and adolescents determine differences in health status. In addition, variables such as age, marital status, employment status and level of education of the head of household are found to be relevant for child and adolescent health status.