Socioeconomic differences in the prevalence of common chronic diseases: an overview of eight European countries

Dalstra, J.A.A.; Kunst, Anton E.; Borrell, Carme; Breeze, Elizabeth; Cambois, Emmanuelle; Costa, Giuseppe; Geurts, J. J. M.; Lahelma, Eero; Oyen, Herman Van; Rasmussen, Niels K.; Regidor, Enrique; Spadea, Teresa; Mackenbach, Johan P.

doi:10.1093/ije/dyh386

Cited by 473 publications

(363 citation statements)

References 74 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

295

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Similarly, the prevalence of hypertension was found to be equally high, exceeding the rates reported for respective age groups in Greece (Bouziotas et al, 2004;Papadopoulou-Alataki et al, 2004) and other developed countries (McCarron et al, 2002). This considerably high prevalence of overweight, obesity and hypertension might be related to the generally low socio-economic level of the overall population in this region, thus providing some indication that what applies in adults (Dalstra et al, 2005;Manios et al, 2005) also seems to apply in children. According to recent data provided by the National Statistical Service of Greece, the district of Epirus is one of the poorest regions in Greece and Europe, as the average per capita income has been estimated to come up to 10 289 Euros (General Secretary National Statistical Service of Greece, 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Relations between obesity and hypertension: preliminary data from a cross-sectional study in primary schoolchildren: The children study

et al. 2006

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective: To record the prevalence of overweight, obesity and hypertension in primary schoolchildren living in one of the poorest regions in Europe and furthermore to identify certain behavioural, lifestyle and physiological parameters associated with body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure (BP). Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Nineteen primary schools within the county of Ioannina, Greece. Subjects and methods: Demographic, dietary and physical activity data as well as anthropometrical, BP and cardiorespiratory fitness measurements were obtained from a representative sample of 312 school children (153 boys and 159 girls) attending 5th grade. Inclusion of subjects in the study was voluntary. One-way analysis of variance and multiple linear regression analysis were mainly applied for the evaluation of the tested hypotheses. Results: The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 29.4 and 11.8% for boys and 39.0 and 7.5% for girls. The prevalence of systolic and diastolic hypertension was 28.1 and 7.8% for boys and 26.4 and 17.0% for girls. Furthermore, BMI and BP (systolic and diastolic) were positively related to frequency of fast food meals (rho: þ 0.28, P ¼ 0.033, rho: þ 1.09, P ¼ 0.03 and rho: þ 0.86, P ¼ 0.014, respectively) but negatively to leisure time physical activity (rho: À5.55, P ¼ 0.005, rho: À3.32 Â 10 À2 , Po0.001 and rho: À2.08 Â 10 À2 , Po0.001, respectively). Conclusions: The current study revealed an increased prevalence of overweight, obesity and hypertension among schoolchildren in Ioannina, indicating the need for early preventive measures in one of the less privileged regions of Europe.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Relations between obesity and hypertension: preliminary data from a cross-sectional study in primary schoolchildren: The children study

et al. 2006

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…People of higher socioeconomic status (SES) live longer, enjoy better health and suffer less from disability, while those of lower SES die younger and suffer a greater burden of disease and disability (Dalstra, Kunst, Borrell, Breeze, Cambois, Costa et al, 2005;Huisman, Kunst, Bopp, Borgan, Borrell, Costa et al, 2005;Mackenbach, Kunst, Cavelaars, Groenhof, Geurts, Andersen et al, 1997;Marmot, Bosma, Hemingway, Brunner, & Stansfeld, 1997;Marmot, Rose, Shipley, & Hamilton, 1978;Minkler, Fuller-Thomson, & Guralnik, 2006). In many cases the associations between SES and health outcomes take the form of a gradient -the higher the SES the better the health (Adler, Boyce, Chesney, Cohen, Folkman, Kahn et al, 1994;Marmot, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…hypertension and diabetes) (Dalstra et al, 2005;Thurston, Kubzansky, Kawachi, & Berkman, 2005) and that different SES dimensions might relate in a differential way to men's and women's health outcomes (Sacker, Firth, Fitzpatrick, Lynch, & Bartley, 2000). For this reason we have undertaken gender-specific analyses.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socioeconomic status and health: The role of subjective social status

Demakakos

Nazroo

Breeze

et al. 2008

Social Science & Medicine

586

519

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Studies have suggested that subjective social status (SSS) is an important predictor of health. This study examined the link between SSS and health in old age and investigated whether SSS mediated the associations between objective indicators of socioeconomic status and health. It used crosssectional data from the second wave (2004-05) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, which were collected through personal interviews and nurse visits. The study population consisted of 3368 men and 4065 women aged 52 years or older. The outcome measures included: self-rated health, long-standing illness, depression, hypertension, diabetes, central obesity, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, fibrinogen, and C-reactive protein. The main independent variable was SSS measured using a scale representing a 10-rung ladder. Wealth, education, and occupational class were employed as covariates along with age and marital status and also, in additional analyses, as the main independent variables. Gender-specific logistic and linear regression analyses were performed. In age-adjusted analyses SSS was related positively to almost all health outcomes. Many of these relationships remained significant after adjustment for covariates. In men, SSS was significantly (p≤0.05) related to self-rated health, depression, and long-standing illness after adjustment for all covariates, while its association with fibrinogen became non-significant. In women, after adjusting for all covariates, SSS was significantly associated with self-rated health, depression, long-standing illness, diabetes, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, but its associations with central obesity and C-reactive protein became non-significant. Further analysis suggested that SSS mediated fully or partially the associations between education, occupational class and self-reported and clinical health measures. On the contrary, SSS did not mediate wealth's associations with the outcome measures, except those with self-reported health measures. Our results suggest that SSS is an important correlate of health in old age, possibly because of its ability to epitomize life-time achievement and socioeconomic status.

show abstract

“…[1,2] It is uncertain however, the degree to which inequalities in NCDs are similar or dissimilar across Europe. Differences across the regions of Europe might indicate that health inequalities are sensitive to different sociopolitical contexts and therefore may also point to possible underlying mechanisms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Occupational inequalities in self-rated health and non-communicable diseases in different regions of Europe: findings from the European Social Survey (2014) special module on the social determinants of health

McNamara

Toch-Marquardt

Balaj

et al. 2017

European Journal of Public Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundSocioeconomic inequalities in the prevalence of non--communicable diseases (NCDs) are evident across European populations. Several previous studies have addressed the question of whether occupational inequalities in health differ across European regions. It is uncertain however, the degree to which occupational inequalities in NCDs are similar or dissimilar across different European regions. MethodsUsing 2014/15 European Social Survey data from 20 countries, this paper examines occupational inequalities in poor self--rated health (SRH) and 14 self--reported NCDs separately for women and men, by European region: heart/circulatory problems, high blood pressure, back pain, arm/hand pain, foot/leg pain, allergies, breathing problems, stomach/digestion problems, skin conditions, diabetes, severe headaches, cancer, obesity and depression. Age--controlled adjusted risk ratios were calculated and separately compared a working class and intermediate occupational group with a salariat group. ResultsWorking class Europeans appear to have the highest risk of reporting poor SRH and a number of NCDs. We find inequalities in some NCDS to be the largest in the Northern region, suggesting further evidence of a Nordic paradox. Like some previous work, we did not find larger inequalities in poor SRH in the Central/East region. However, we did find the largest inequalities in this region for some NCDs. Our results do not align completely with previous work which finds smaller health inequalities in Southern Europe. ConclusionsThis work provides a first look at occupational inequalities across a range of NCDs for European men and women by region. Future work is needed to identify the underlying determinants behind regional differences.

show abstract

Socioeconomic differences in the prevalence of common chronic diseases: an overview of eight European countries

Cited by 473 publications

References 74 publications

Relations between obesity and hypertension: preliminary data from a cross-sectional study in primary schoolchildren: The children study

Relations between obesity and hypertension: preliminary data from a cross-sectional study in primary schoolchildren: The children study

Socioeconomic status and health: The role of subjective social status

Occupational inequalities in self-rated health and non-communicable diseases in different regions of Europe: findings from the European Social Survey (2014) special module on the social determinants of health

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About