title: Trends in socioeconomic inequalities in self-assessed health in 10 European countries.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands. a.kunst@easmusmc.nl
authors.forename: Anton E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Kunst
authors.forename: Vivian
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bos
authors.forename: Eero
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lahelma
authors.forename: Mel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bartley
authors.forename: Inge
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Lissau
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Regidor
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mielck
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cardano
authors.forename: Jetty A A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Dalstra
authors.forename: José J M
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Geurts
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Helmert
authors.forename: Carin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lennartsson
authors.forename: Jorun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ramm
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Spadea
authors.forename: Willibald J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Stronegger
authors.forename: Johan P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Mackenbach
mesh_terms: 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