BACKGROUND Income poverty is known to be associated with poor health outcomes. However, the poverty line, which is used to calculate the poverty rate, is arbitrarily set without specific reference to health. This study explored the health-relevant poverty line to understand poverty in terms of population health. METHODS Using repeated cross-sectional data from approximately 663,000 individuals obtained from 11 waves of nationwide population surveys conducted in Japan from 1986 to 2016, we used two methods to calculate a health-relevant poverty line: (1) We searched for a poverty line that maximized the proportion-weighted relative underperformance in health among individuals whose income was below the poverty line (Method I). (2) We searched for a poverty line that maximized the likelihood of the logistic regression model to explain poverty in terms of health using a binary variable for below-the-poverty-line income (Method II). For both methods, we considered five health outcomes: Poor/fair and poor self-rated health, subjective symptoms, problems with daily life activities, and psychological distress, along with covariates. RESULTS Methods I and II indicated that the health-relevant poverty line should be drawn, respectively, at 72-86% and 67-69% of median income; this level is somewhat higher than the conventional 50% or 60%. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that there is a risk that the conventionally defined poverty line may underestimate poverty in terms of population health.

中文翻译：

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探索与健康相关的贫困线：使用日本663,000个人的数据进行的研究。

背景技术众所周知，收入贫困与健康状况差有关。但是，用于计算贫困率的贫困线是任意设置的，没有特别提及健康。这项研究探索了与健康有关的贫困线，以从人口健康角度了解贫困。方法使用从1986年至2016年在日本进行的11次全国人口调查中获得的大约663,000个人的重复横截面数据，我们使用两种方法来计算与健康相关的贫困线：（1）我们搜索了一条贫困线，使收入低于贫困线的个人在健康方面的比例加权相对绩效不佳最大化（方法I）。（2）我们使用一个低于贫困线收入的二元变量，搜索了一个贫困线，该贫困线最大化了逻辑回归模型从健康角度解释贫困的可能性（方法II）。对于这两种方法，我们都考虑了五种健康结果：自评健康状况差/一般和差，主观症状，日常生活活动问题，心理困扰以及协变量。结果方法I和II表明，应将与健康有关的贫困线分别划为收入中位数的72％至86％和67％至69％。该水平略高于常规的50％或60％。结论结果表明，按照传统定义的贫困线可能存在低估人口健康的风险。对于这两种方法，我们都考虑了五种健康结果：自评健康状况差/一般和差，主观症状，日常生活活动问题，心理困扰以及协变量。结果方法I和II表明，应将与健康有关的贫困线分别划为收入中位数的72％至86％和67％至69％。该水平略高于常规的50％或60％。结论结果表明，按照传统定义的贫困线可能存在低估人口健康的风险。对于这两种方法，我们都考虑了五种健康结果：自评健康状况差/一般和差，主观症状，日常生活活动问题，心理困扰以及协变量。结果方法I和II表明，应将与健康有关的贫困线分别划为收入中位数的72％至86％和67％至69％。该水平略高于常规的50％或60％。结论结果表明，按照传统定义的贫困线可能存在低估人口健康的风险。分别占中等收入的72-86％和67-69％；该水平略高于常规的50％或60％。结论结果表明，按照传统定义的贫困线可能存在低估人口健康的风险。分别占中等收入的72-86％和67-69％；该水平略高于常规的50％或60％。结论结果表明，按照传统定义的贫困线可能存在人口健康低估贫困的风险。