Male Smoking Never Ex Current Alcohol No Moderate Heavy Obesity No Obesity Exercise No Regular Sleeping Not Adequate Kim and Ruger BMC Public Health 2010, 10:195 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/10/195 Table 3: Age-adjusted Educational Disparities in Behavioral Risk Factors by Gender (1998) Female All Illiterate Elemen (%) Middle High College & above All Illiterate Elemen (%) Middle High College & above 94.48 0.98 4.53 76.91 20.28 2.80 58.53 41.47 90.68 9.32 45.58 54.42 93.54 1.78 4.69 64.08 29.88 6.04 61.29 38.71 83.10 16.90 38.23 61.77 Page 8 of 19 94.05 3.21 2.73 70.51 27.22 2.26 83.52 16.48 77.87 22.13 35.13 64.87 94.36 2.29 3.35 65.24 29.47 5.28 79.08 20.92 79.78 20.22 36.26 63.74 16.06 19.60 64.34 29.00 35.14 35.87 71.07 28.93 78.01 21.99 34.17 65.83 10.01 24.19 65.81 37.62 18.76 43.62 84.04 15.96 91.81 8.19 37.72 67.28 18.19 16.38 65.43 28.52 32.71 38.77 73.77 26.23 86.55 13.45 34.04 65.96 15.73 19.90 64.37 30.41 31.98 37.61 72.89 27.11 79.73 20.27 35.49 64.51 13.68 18.86 67.47 27.41 37.71 34.88 70.00 30.00 78.91 21.09 31.37 68.63 19.33 18.95 61.72 24.99 41.32 33.70 67.13 32.87 73.04 26.96 34.64 65.38 93.46 1.93 4.61 71.79 24.19 4.03 68.92 31.08 83.67 16.33 41.26 58.74 89.58 2.07 8.35 80.38 16.73 2.88 68.06 31.94 94.71 5.29 47.01 52.99 χ2 = 596.69(p < .01, df = 8) χ2 = 1526.23(p < .01, df = 8) χ2 = 263.40(p < .01, df = 4) χ2 = 3988.73(p < .01, df = 4) χ2 = 944.41(p < .01, df = 4) χ2 = 1831.18(p < .01, df = 4) χ2 = 466.54(p < .01, df = 8) χ2 = 587.01(p < .01, df = 8) χ2 = 100.02(p < .01, df = 4) χ2 = 681.25(p < .01, df = 4) income group had lower rates of obesity compared to men in the highest class (25.5% to 37.7%). Compared to 1998, more men and women in all income groups reported exercising regularly, but the gap between regularly exercising in the lowest and highest groups by income increased in 2005 in men (2.5% difference in 1998, 9.8% difference in 2005) but decreased in women (5.3% difference in 1998, 0.3% difference in 2005). In 1998 the greatest percentage of females in the lowest income class reported inadequate sleep (41.3%) while in 2005, the greatest percentage of females in the highest income class reported inadequate sleep (50.1%). Occupational Disparities Table 7 and 8 show age-adjusted occupational disparities in behavioral risk factors, using the Korean Occupational Classification Index (see Additional file 1). For women, rates of heavy drinking were higher in the middle classes (Class II-IV) than in both the lowest and highest classes in 1998 and 2005. For men, heavy drinking was much lower for the lowest class (Class I) (27.4% in 1998) com- pared to all other classes in 1998; in 2005, heavy drinking was much lower in Class III (45.1%) compared to all other classes In 1998, obesity rates were highest in Classes I, II and III occupational class among men (34.8%, 31.4% and 34.6%) and Classes II, III, and IV (41.9%, 39.7%, and 40.6%) in 2005. Obesity rates were highest in Classes III and VI for women in both 1998 and 2005 (36.1% and 40.5% in 1998 versus 36.4% and 34.7% in 2005). Differences in Self-reported Acute and Chronic Disease and Subjective Health Outcomes by Socioeconomic Position In age-adjusted means and odds ratios (OR) in morbidity (Table 9, 10) and self-reported health (Table 11, 12) after adjusting for personal characteristics and behavioral risk factors, we found statistically significant mean differences in morbidity between different education groups for both males and females, but the gap in morbidity decreased for women in 2005. For example, the OR for higher morbid- ity was 5.4:1 for illiterate versus college and above level females in 1998, but the difference fell to 3.0:1 in 2005. There exists an education gradient in the odds for higher morbidity among men and women in 1998, which was