Trends in socioeconomic inequalities in self-assessed health in 10 European countries.
BACKGROUND
Changes over time in inequalities in self-reported health are studied for increasingly more countries, but a comprehensive overview encompassing several countries is still lacking. The general aim of this article is to determine whether inequalities in self-assessed health in 10 European countries showed a general tendency either to increase or to decrease between the 1980s and the 1990s and whether trends varied among countries.


METHODS
Data were obtained from nationally representative interview surveys held in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, England, The Netherlands, West Germany, Austria, Italy, and Spain. The proportion of respondents with self-assessed health less than 'good' was measured in relation to educational level and income level. Inequalities were measured by means of age-standardized prevalence rates and odds ratios (ORs).


RESULTS
Socioeconomic inequalities in self-assessed health showed a high degree of stability in European countries. For all countries together, the ORs comparing low with high educational levels remained stable for men (2.61 in the 1980s and 2.54 in the 1990s) but increased slightly for women (from 2.48 to 2.70). The ORs comparing extreme income quintiles increased from 3.13 to 3.37 for men and from 2.43 to 2.86 for women. Increases could be demonstrated most clearly for Italian and Spanish men and women, and for Dutch women, whereas inequalities in health in the Nordic countries showed no tendency to increase.


CONCLUSIONS
The results underscore the persistent nature of socioeconomic inequalities in health in modern societies. The relatively favourable trends in the Nordic countries suggest that these countries' welfare states were able to buffer many of the adverse effects of economic crises on the health of disadvantaged groups.
Kunst
Anton E
AE
Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands. a.kunst@easmusmc.nl
Bos
Vivian
V
Lahelma
Eero
E
Bartley
Mel
M
Lissau
Inge
I
Regidor
Enrique
E
Mielck
Andreas
A
Cardano
Mario
M
Dalstra
Jetty A A
JA
Geurts
José J M
JJ
Helmert
Uwe
U
Lennartsson
Carin
C
Ramm
Jorun
J
Spadea
Teresa
T
Stronegger
Willibald J
WJ
Mackenbach
Johan P
JP
D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012737:Sex Factors; D012923:Social Class; D012924:Social Conditions; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors