title: Socioeconomic inequalities in mortality among elderly people in 11 European populations.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe mortality inequalities related to education and housing tenure in 11 European populations and to describe the age pattern of relative and absolute socioeconomic inequalities in mortality in the elderly European population.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from mortality registries linked with population census data of 11 countries and regions of Europe were acquired for the beginning of the 1990s. Indicators of socioeconomic status were educational level and housing tenure. The study determined mortality rate ratios, relative indices of inequality (RII), and mortality rate differences. The age range was 30 to 90+ years. Analyses were performed on the pooled European data, including all populations, and on the data of populations separately. Data were included from Finland, Norway, Denmark, England and Wales, Belgium, France, Austria, Switzerland, Barcelona, Madrid, and Turin.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In Europe (populations pooled) relative inequalities in mortality decreased with increasing age, but persisted. Absolute educational mortality differences increased until the ages 90+. In some of the populations, relative inequalities among older women were as large as those among middle aged women. The decline of relative educational inequalities was largest in Norway (men and women) and Austria (men). Relative educational inequalities did not decrease, or hardly decreased with age in England and Wales (men), Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, and Turin (women).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Socioeconomic inequalities in mortality among older men and women were found to persist in each country, sometimes of similar magnitude as those among the middle aged. Mortality inequalities among older populations are an important public health problem in Europe.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands. m.huisman@erasmusmc.nl
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Huisman
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Kunst
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Andersen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bopp
authors.forename: J-K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Borgan
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Borrell
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Deboosere
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Desplanques
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Donkin
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gadeyne
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Minder
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Regidor
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Spadea
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Valkonen
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Mackenbach
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004522:Educational Status; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006798:Housing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality; D012042:Registries; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors