Socio-economic inequalities in health and service utilization in the London Borough of Newham.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the extent of socio-economic inequalities in health in the London Borough of Newham and to compare them with those in the UK as a whole.


METHODS
Cross-sectional, individual-level observational study with data on socio-economic and health measures from wave one of the Newham Household Panel Survey (n=1723) and wave 11 of the British Household Panel Survey (n=8444).


METHODS
Age-standardized comparison of the social distribution, by household social class, education, housing conditions and neighbourhood problems, of six indicators of health and service utilization. Relative index of inequality is used to compare magnitude of inequality across the samples.


RESULTS
Age-standardized prevalence ratios for most health and service use indicators indicated that Newham has poorer health and higher utilization compared with the UK as a whole. Significant health inequalities were associated with socio-economic measures in both Newham and Britain, but few significant differences in the relative effects between the two.


CONCLUSIONS
Although Newham has higher prevalence of poor health and high service use, the relative effects of socio-economic inequalities are similar to those in Britain as a whole.
Pevalin
D J
DJ
Department of Health and Human Sciences, University of Essex, Colchester CO4 3SQ, UK. pevalin@essex.ac.uk
D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008131:London / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors