Work

The Richer the Better? SES Inequalities In Cause-Specific Adult Mortality In a Long-Term Perspective: Evidence from Sweden 1813-2014

Year: 2019

Type: report

Abstract: Higher socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with lower mortality. This has been confirmedusing different indicators across several geographical settings. Nevertheless, the mechanismsbehind this association are still under debate. In particular, the timing of the emergence of theSES gradient remains an open question. In this paper, we study the development of SESinequalities in cause-specific mortality for a regional population in southern Sweden from theearly nineteenth century until 2014. We apply a cause-specific hazard model to estimate mortalitydifferentials by SES. Our results confirm that the SES differences we see today emerged onlyaround 1970. More importantly, our study demonstrates that, with few exceptions, SESdifferences emerged about the same time for all causes of death. For women it started earlier thanfor men, particularly in infectious diseases. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century we finda positive association between SES and mortality from circulatory diseases for men. We arguethat habits and behaviors embedded in the different social strata played a major role behind theSES differences in mortality that we observe throughout the analyzed period.

Source: Lund University Publications (Lund University)

Authors: Debiasi, Enrico, Dribe, Martin

Institution: Lund University

Language: English

Topic: Health disparities and outcomes

Subfield: Health

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Good health and well-being, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: green

Funders: European Commission, Lunds Universitet

Award: Methodologies and Data mining techniques for the analysis of Big Data based on Longitudinal Population and Epidemiological Registers