Occupational class and ischemic heart disease mortality in the United States and 11 European countries.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Twelve countries were compared with respect to occupational class differences in ischemic heart disease mortality in order to identify factors that are associated with smaller or larger mortality differences. METHODS: Data on mortality by occupational class among men aged 30 to 64 years were obtained from national longitudinal or cross-sectional studies for the 1980s. A common occupational class scheme was applied to most countries. Potential effects of the main data problems were evaluated quantitatively. RESULTS: A north-south contrast existed within Europe. In England and Wales, Ireland, and Nordic countries, manual classes had higher mortality rates than nonmanual classes. In France, Switzerland, and Mediterranean countries, manual classes had mortality rates as low as, or lower than, those among nonmanual classes. Compared with Northern Europe, mortality differences in the United States were smaller (among men aged 30-44 years) or about as large (among men aged 45-64 years). CONCLUSIONS: The results underline the highly variable nature of socioeconomic inequalities in ischemic heart disease mortality. These inequalities appear to be highly sensitive to social gradients in behavioral risk factors. These risk factor gradients are determined by cultural as well as socioeconomic developments.

Social capital, the miniaturisation of community, traditionalism and first time acute myocardial infarction: A prospective cohort study in southern Sweden

“…This association has been demonstrated in many studies in many different countries in individual (Bucher and Ragland 1995;Ellaway et al 1997;Kunst et al 1999;Hemingway et al 2000;Salomaa et al 2000;Wamala 2001) and multilevel (Kleinschmidt et al;Reijneveld 1998;LeClere et al 1998) analyses.…”

Associations between food patterns, socioeconomic position and working situation among adult, working women and men in Oslo

“…It is well documented that lower socioeconomic position (SEP) is associated with poorer health (The World Bank, 1993;Wilkinson and Marmot, 2006), even in highly developed welfare societies (Mackenbach et al, 1997;Kunst et al, 1999;Silventoinen and Lahelma, 2002;Mackenbach et al, 2003;Strand and Tverdal, 2004;Roos et al, 2005;Rognerud and Zahl, 2006). Much of the social inequalities in health are due to lifestyle diseases (Kunst et al, 1999;Mackenbach et al, 2003;Strand and Tverdal, 2004;Avendano et al, 2006).…”

“…Much of the social inequalities in health are due to lifestyle diseases (Kunst et al, 1999;Mackenbach et al, 2003;Strand and Tverdal, 2004;Avendano et al, 2006). Previous studies indicate a more healthy diet among those in higher social classes (Perrin et al, 2002;Giskes et al, 2006).…”

Lower socioeconomic status among men in relation to the association between job strain and blood pressure

“…Lower socioeconomic status is also consistently associated with a wide variety of disease outcomes in developed countries, including hypertension (3) and cardiovascular disease (4)(5)(6). However, synergism between low socioeconomic status and job strain has rarely been assessed.…”