Journal ArticleDOI
Socioeconomic Inequalities in Health in 22 European Countries
Johan P. Mackenbach,Irina Stirbu,Albert-Jan R. Roskam,Maartje M. Schaap,Gwenn Menvielle,Mall Leinsalu,Anton E. Kunst +6 more
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In this article, the authors compared the magnitude of inequalities in mortality and self-assessed health among 22 countries in all parts of Europe and found that in almost all countries, the rates of death and poorer selfassessments of health were substantially higher in groups of lower socioeconomic status.Abstract:
A b s t r ac t Background Comparisons among countries can help to identify opportunities for the reduction of inequalities in health. We compared the magnitude of inequalities in mortality and self-assessed health among 22 countries in all parts of Europe. Methods We obtained data on mortality according to education level and occupational class from census-based mortality studies. Deaths were classified according to cause, including common causes, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer; causes related to smoking; causes related to alcohol use; and causes amenable to medical intervention, such as tuberculosis and hypertension. Data on self-assessed health, smoking, and obesity according to education and income were obtained from health or multipurpose surveys. For each country, the association between socioeconomic status and health outcomes was measured with the use of regression-based inequality indexes. Results In almost all countries, the rates of death and poorer self-assessments of health were substantially higher in groups of lower socioeconomic status, but the magnitude of the inequalities between groups of higher and lower socioeconomic status was much larger in some countries than in others. Inequalities in mortality were small in some southern European countries and very large in most countries in the eastern and Baltic regions. These variations among countries appeared to be attributable in part to causes of death related to smoking or alcohol use or amenable to medical intervention. The magnitude of inequalities in self-assessed health also varied substantially among countries, but in a different pattern. Conclusions We observed variation across Europe in the magnitude of inequalities in health associated with socioeconomic status. These inequalities might be reduced by improving educational opportunities, income distribution, health-related behavior, or access to health care.read more
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Strategies to intervene on social determinants of infectious diseases
TL;DR: There seems to be a need to intervene on inequalities in infectious diseases but ideally with a comprehensive public health approach, and three intervention strategies are discussed: population-at-risk, population, and vulnerable population approaches.
Journal ArticleDOI
Contribution of health behaviours and clinical factors to socioeconomic differences in frailty among older adults
Hosanna Soler-Vila,Hosanna Soler-Vila,Esther García-Esquinas,Luz Mª León-Muñoz,Esther Lopez-Garcia,José R. Banegas,Fernando Rodríguez-Artalejo +6 more
TL;DR: A lower education or a manual occupation was associated with higher frailty risk in older women, partly explained by lower alcohol consumption, higher sedentariness, and higher obesity and chronic disease rates in women with lower SES.
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Health inequalities in European welfare states.
Eero Lahelma,Olle Lundberg +1 more
TL;DR: A controversial and puzzling finding from studies on health inequalities is that countries that have managed to reduce inequalities in social and economic conditions, itself powerful determinants of health, are not necessarily characterized by smaller inequalities in health.
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The socio-economic determinants of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic
TL;DR: In this article, the authors leverage Bayesian model averaging techniques and country level data to investigate the potential of 31 determinants, describing a diverse set of socio-economic characteristics, in explaining the outcome of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
Journal ArticleDOI
Analyzing differences in the magnitude of socioeconomic inequalities in self-perceived health by countries of different political tradition in Europe
Carme Borrell,Albert Espelt,Maica Rodríguez-Sanz,Boris Burström,Carles Muntaner,M. Isabel Pasarín,Joan Benach,Chiara Marinacci,Albert-Jan Roskam,Maartje M. Schaap,Enrique Regidor,Giuseppe Costa,Paula Santana,Patrick Deboosere,Anton E. Kunst,Vicente Navarro +15 more
TL;DR: For European countries, variations among political traditions in the magnitude of inequalities in self-perceived health by educational level are described and whether these variations change when contextual welfare state, labor market, wealth, and income inequality variables are taken into account.
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