Social inequalities in early childhood health and development: a European-wide systematic review

Abstract

The evidence examining the relationship between specific social factors and early childhood health and developmental outcomes has never been systematically collated or synthesized. This review aims to identify the key social factors operating at the household, neighborhood, and country levels that drive inequalities in child health and development. Medline and CHICOS (a European child-cohort inventory) were systematically searched to identify all European studies published within the past 10 y. 13,270 Medline articles and 77 European child cohorts were searched, identifying 201 studies from 32 European countries. Neighborhood deprivation, lower parental income/wealth, educational attainment, and occupational social class, higher parental job strain, parental unemployment, lack of housing tenure, and household material deprivation were identified as the key social factors associated with a wide range of adverse child health and developmental outcomes. Similar association trends were observed across most European countries, with only minor country-level differences. Multiple adverse social factors operating at both the household and neighborhood levels are independently associated with a range of adverse health and developmental outcomes throughout early childhood. The social gradient in health and developmental outcomes observed throughout the remaining life course may be partly explained by gradients initiated in early childhood.

Health check-ups of children living in a Belarus district contaminated after the Chernobyl accident

“…This observation is in agreement with previously published results, as an inverse relation between development and socio-economic status is frequently described (Pillas et al, 2014).…”

Consequences and Possible Predictors of Health-damaging Behaviors and Mental Health Problems in Pregnancy – A Review

“…Previous research has focused on the impact of inequality due to social factors (e.g. low levels of education, low incomes) on physical and mental health [11][12][13][14]. However, what affects the pregnant womanʼs physical and psychological state of health is not so much her actual social status but instead the (socially determined) differences which manifest as specific burdens (e.g.…”

Health care professionals’ perceptions of health promotion with preschool children

“…[25,[28][29][30] In a social-ecology model Dahlgren and Whitehead [31] have described the main determinants that have an impact on people's health from three layers. The first layer includes factors related to the individual such as behavior, friendship patterns and the norms of the community.…”

“…[13] WHO, [41,42] the United Nations [43][44][45] and several authors [23,25,[28][29][30][31]37] all underline the importance of bridging the inequalities in health. Lake and Reynolds [37] suggest that structural changes must be made, but they also stress, as mentioned above, that the health care staff must play a more active role in the promotion of children's health.…”