Neurological conditions and subsequent divorce risk in the Nordic countries: the importance of gender and both spouses' education

BACKGROUND

Prior studies suggest that poor physical health, accompanied by functional disability, is associated with increased divorce risk. However, this association may depend on gender, the socioeconomic resources of the couple, as well as the social policy and social (in)equality context in which the illness is experienced. This study focuses on neurological conditions, which often have substantial functional consequences.

METHODS

We used longitudinal population-wide register data from the years 2007-2016 (Denmark, Sweden) or 2008-2017 (Finland, Norway) to follow 2 809 209 married couples aged 30-64 for neurological conditions, identified using information on specialised healthcare for diseases of the nervous system and subsequent divorce. Cox regression models were estimated in each country, and meta-analysis used to calculate across-country estimates.

RESULTS

During the 10-year follow-up period, 22.2% of couples experienced neurological conditions and 12.0% of marriages ended in divorce. In all countries, divorce risk was elevated among couples where at least one spouse had a neurological condition, and especially so if both spouses were ill. The divorce risk was either larger or similar for husband's illness, compared with wife's illness, in all educational categories. For the countries pooled, the weighted average HR was 1.21 (95% CI 1.20 to 1.23) for wives' illness, 1.27 (95% CI 1.25 to 1.29) for husbands' illness and 1.38 (95% CI 1.34 to 1.42) for couples where both spouses were ill.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite some variation by educational resources and country context, the results suggest that the social consequences of illness are noticeable even in Nordic welfare states, with the husband's illness being at least as important as the wife's.

Inequality and COVID-19 in Sweden: Relative risks of nine bad life events, by four social gradients, in pandemic vs. prepandemic years

The COVID-19 pandemic struck societies directly and indirectly, not just challenging population health but disrupting many aspects of life. Different effects of the spreading virus-and the measures to fight it-are reported and discussed in different scientific fora, with hard-to-compare methods and metrics from different traditions. While the pandemic struck some groups more than others, it is difficult to assess the comprehensive impact on social inequalities. This paper gauges social inequalities using individual-level administrative data for Sweden's entire population. We describe and analyze the relative risks for different social groups in four dimensions-gender, education, income, and world region of birth-to experience three types of COVID-19 incidence, as well as six additional negative life outcomes that reflect general health, access to medical care, and economic strain. During the pandemic, the overall population faced severe morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 and saw higher all-cause mortality, income losses and unemployment risks, as well as reduced access to medical care. These burdens fell more heavily on individuals with low income or education and on immigrants. Although these vulnerable groups experienced larger absolute risks of suffering the direct and indirect consequences of the pandemic, the relative risks in pandemic years (2020 and 2021) were conspicuously similar to those in prepandemic years (2016 to 2019).

Migrant mortality by duration of residence and co-ethnic density - A register-based study on Finnish migrants in Sweden with matched controls in the origin and the destination

Migrant health depends on factors both at the origin and at the destination. Health-related behaviors established before migration may change at the destination. We compare the mortality rates from alcohol- and smoking-related causes and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) of Finnish migrants in Sweden to matched controls in both Sweden and Finland with similar sociodemographic characteristics. Migrant mortality rates from behavioral risk factors lie in-between the rates of non-migrants in the origin and destination. A longer duration of residence is associated with lower mortality and with mortality patterns more similar to Swedes for men. For women, a longer duration of residence is associated with higher mortality, in particular smoking-related mortality, with no tendency of a gradual convergence. The density of Finnish migrants in the local area is modestly associated with mortality. However, CVD mortality tends to be higher and more similar to the level in Finland for migrants in areas with a higher density of Finnish migrants. The results suggest that behavioral changes can reduce mortality differences between migrants and natives and that this can be either beneficial or detrimental to migrant health.

Waves of inequality: income differences in intensive care due to Covid-19 in Sweden

BACKGROUND

Socioeconomically vulnerable groups were overall more likely to develop severe Covid-19, but specific conditions in terms of preparedness, knowledge and the properties of the virus itself changed during the course of the pandemic. Inequalities in Covid-19 may therefore shift over time. This study examines the relationship between income and intensive care (ICU) episodes due to Covid-19 in Sweden during three distinct waves.

METHODS

This study uses Swedish register data on the total adult population and estimates the relative risk (RR) of ICU episodes due to Covid-19 by income quartile for each month between March 2020 and May 2022, and for each wave, using Poisson regression analyses.

RESULTS

The first wave had modest income-related inequalities, while the second wave had a clear income gradient, with the lowest income quartile having an increased risk compared to the high-income group [RR: 1.55 (1.36-1.77)]. In the third wave, the overall need for ICU decreased, but RRs increased, particularly in the lowest income quartile [RR: 3.72 (3.50-3.96)]. Inequalities in the third wave were partly explained by differential vaccination coverage by income quartile, although substantial inequalities remained after adjustment for vaccination status [RR: 2.39 (2.20-2.59)].

CONCLUSIONS

The study highlights the importance of considering the changing mechanisms that connect income and health during a novel pandemic. The finding that health inequalities increased as the aetiology of Covid-19 became better understood could be interpreted through the lens of adapted fundamental cause theory.

Disruption and selection: the income gradient in mortality among natives and migrants in Sweden

BACKGROUND

The income gradient in mortality is generated through an interplay between socio-economic processes and health over the life course. International migration entails the displacement of an individual from one context to another and may disrupt these processes. Furthermore, migrants are a selected group that may adopt distinct strategies and face discrimination in the labour market. These factors may have implications for the income gradient in mortality. We investigate whether the income gradient in mortality differs by migrant status and by individual-level factors surrounding the migration event.

METHODS

We use administrative register data comprising the total resident population in Sweden aged between 30 and 79 in 2015 (n = 5.7 million) and follow them for mortality during 2015-17. We estimate the income gradient in mortality by migrant status, region of origin, age at migration and country of education using locally estimated scatterplot smoothing and Poisson regression.

RESULTS

The income gradient in mortality is less steep among migrants compared with natives. This pattern is driven by lower mortality among migrants at lower levels of income. The gradient is less steep among distant migrants than among close migrants, migrants that arrived as adults compared with children and migrants that received their education in Sweden as opposed to abroad.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results are consistent with the notion that income inequalities in mortality are generated through life-course processes that may be disrupted by migration. Data restrictions prevent us from disentangling life-course disruption from selection into migration, discrimination and labour market strategies.

The contribution of alcohol-related deaths to the life-expectancy gap between people with and without depression - a cross-country comparison

BACKGROUND

Alcohol-related deaths may be among the most important reasons for the shorter life expectancy of people with depression, yet no study has quantified their contribution. We quantify the contribution of alcohol-related deaths to the life-expectancy gap in depression in four European countries with differing levels of alcohol-related mortality.

METHODS

We used cohort data linking population registers with health-care and death records from Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Turin, Italy, in 1993-2007 (210,412,097 person years, 3046,754 deaths). We identified psychiatric inpatients with depression from hospital discharge registers in Denmark, Finland, and Sweden and outpatients with antidepressant prescriptions from prescription registers in Finland and Turin. We assessed alcohol-related and non-alcohol-related deaths using both underlying and contributory causes of death, stratified by sex, age and depression status. We quantified the contribution of alcohol-related deaths by cause-of-death decomposition of the life-expectancy gap at age 25 between people with and without depression.

RESULTS

The gap in life expectancy was 13.1-18.6 years between people with and without inpatient treatment for depression and 6.7-9.1 years between those with and without antidepressant treatment. The contribution of alcohol-related deaths to the life-expectancy gap was larger in Denmark (33.6%) and Finland (18.1-30.5%) - i.e., countries with high overall alcohol-related mortality - than in Sweden (11.9%) and Turin (3.2%), and larger among men in all countries. The life-expectancy gap due to other than alcohol-related deaths varied little across countries.

CONCLUSIONS

Alcohol contributes heavily to the lower life expectancy in depression particularly among men and in countries with high overall alcohol-related mortality.

Excess Mortality by Individual and Spousal Education for Recent and Long-Term Widowed

OBJECTIVES

The loss of a spouse is followed by a dramatic but short-lived increase in the mortality risk of the survivor. Contrary to expectations, several studies have found this increase to be larger among those with high education. Having a spouse with high education is associated with lower mortality, which suggests that losing a spouse with high education means the loss of a stronger protective factor than losing a spouse with low education. This may disproportionately affect the high educated because of educational homogamy.

METHODS

We use Swedish total population registers to construct an open cohort of 1,842,487 married individuals aged 60-89 during 2007-2016, observing 239,276 transitions into widowhood and 277,946 deaths. We use Poisson regression to estimate relative and absolute mortality risks by own and spousal education among the married and recent and long-term widows.

RESULTS

We find an absolute increase in mortality risk, concentrated to the first 6 months of widowhood across all educational strata. The relative increase in mortality risk is larger in higher educational strata. Losing a spouse with high education is associated with higher excess mortality, which attenuates this difference.

DISCUSSION

When considering the timing and the absolute level of excess mortality, we find that the overall patterns of excess mortality are similar across educational strata. We argue that widowhood has a dramatic impact on health, regardless of education.

Trends in the shape of the income-mortality association in Sweden between 1995 and 2017: a repeated cross-sectional population register study

OBJECTIVE

We investigate recent trends in income inequalities in mortality and the shape of the association in Sweden. We consider all-cause, preventable and non-preventable mortality for three age groups (30-64, 65-79 and 80+ years).

DESIGN AND SETTING

Repeated cross-sectional design using Swedish total population register data.

PARTICIPANTS

All persons aged 30 years and older living in Sweden 1995-1996, 2005-2006 and 2016-2017 (n=8 084 620).

METHODS

Rate differences and rate ratios for all-cause, preventable and non-preventable mortality were calculated per income decile and age group.

RESULTS

From 1995 to 2017, relative inequalities in mortality by income increased in Sweden in the age groups 30-64 years and 65-79 years. Absolute inequalities increased in the age group 65-79 years. Among persons aged 80+ years, inequalities were small. The shape of the income-mortality association was curvilinear in the age group 30-64 years; the gradient was stronger below the fourth percentile. In the age group 65-79 years, the shape shifted from linear in 1995-1996 to a more curvilinear shape in 2016-2017. In the oldest age group (80+ years), varied shapes were observed. Inequalities were more pronounced in preventable mortality compared with non-preventable mortality. Income inequalities in preventable and non-preventable mortality increased at similar rates between 1995 and 2017.

CONCLUSIONS

The continued increase of relative (ages 30-79 years) and absolute (ages 65-79 years) mortality inequalities in Sweden should be a primary concern for public health policy. The uniform increase of inequalities in preventable and non-preventable mortality suggests that a more complex explanatory model than only social causation is responsible for increased health inequalities.

Contributions of specific causes of death by age to the shorter life expectancy in depression: a register-based observational study from Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Italy

BACKGROUND

The reasons for the shorter life expectancy of people with depression may vary by age. We quantified the contributions of specific causes of death by age to the life-expectancy gap in four European countries.

METHODS

Using register-based cohort data, we calculated annual mortality rates in between 1993 and 2007 for psychiatric inpatients with depression identified from hospital-care registers in Denmark, Finland and Sweden, and between 2000 and 2007 for antidepressant-treated outpatients identified from medication registers in Finland and Turin, Italy. We decomposed the life-expectancy gap at age 15 years by age and cause of death.

RESULTS

The life-expectancy gap was especially large for psychiatric inpatients (12.1 to 21.0 years) but substantial also for antidepressant-treated outpatients (6.3 to 14.2 years). Among psychiatric inpatients, the gap was largely attributable to unnatural deaths below age 55 years. The overall contribution was largest for suicide in Sweden (43 to 45%) and Finland (37 to 40%). In Denmark, 'other diseases' (25 to 34%) and alcohol-attributable causes (10 to 18%) had especially large contributions. Among antidepressant-treated outpatients, largest contributions were observed for suicide (18% for men) and circulatory deaths (23% for women) in Finland, and cancer deaths in Turin (29 to 36%). Natural deaths were concentrated at ages above 65 years.

LIMITATIONS

The indication of antidepressant prescription could not be ascertained from the medication registers.

CONCLUSIONS

Interventions should be directed to self-harm and substance use problems among younger psychiatric inpatients and antidepressant-treated young men. Rigorous monitoring and treatment of comorbid somatic conditions and disease risk factors may increase life expectancy for antidepressant-treated outpatients, especially women.

Home and away: mortality among Finnish-born migrants in Sweden compared to native Swedes and Finns residing in Finland

Background

Most first-generation migrants have lower mortality compared to the native population. Finnish-born migrants in Sweden instead have higher mortality; possibly because of health behaviours established before migration. To increase our understanding of this excess mortality, we compared the cause-specific mortality of Finnish migrants in Sweden to both the native population of Sweden and the native Finnish population residing in Finland.

Methods

We used Swedish and Finnish register data, applying propensity score matching techniques to account for differences in sociodemographic characteristics between the migrants, Swedes and Finns. The index population were Finnish migrants aged 40–60, residing in Sweden in 1995. We compared patterns of all-cause, alcohol- and smoking-related, and cardiovascular disease mortality across the groups in the period 1996–2007.

Results

Finnish migrant men in Sweden had lower all-cause mortality compared to Finnish men but higher mortality compared to the Swedish men. The same patterns were observed for alcohol-related, smoking-related and cardiovascular disease mortality. Among women, all three groups had similar levels of all-cause mortality. However, Finnish migrant women had higher alcohol-related mortality than Swedish women, similar to Finnish women. Conversely, migrant women had similar levels of smoking-related mortality to Swedish women, lower than Finnish women.

Conclusions

Finnish-born migrants residing in Sweden have mortality patterns that are typically in between the mortality patterns of the native populations in their country of origin and destination. Both the country of origin and destination need to be considered in order to better understand migrant health.

Changes in life expectancy and lifespan variability by income quartiles in four Nordic countries: a study based on nationwide register data

OBJECTIVES

Levels, trends or changes in socioeconomic mortality differentials are typically described in terms of means, for example, life expectancies, but studies have suggested that there also are systematic social disparities in the dispersion around those means, in other words there are inequalities in lifespan variation. This study investigates changes in income inequalities in mean and distributional measures of mortality in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden over two decades.

DESIGN

Nationwide register-based study.

SETTING

The Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish populations aged 30 years or over in 1997 and 2017.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Income-specific changes in life expectancy, lifespan variation and the contribution of 'early' and 'late' deaths to increasing life expectancy.

RESULTS

Increases in life expectancy has taken place in all four countries, but there are systematic differences across income groups. In general, the largest gains in life expectancy were observed in Denmark, and the smallest increase among low-income women in Sweden and Norway. Overall, life expectancy increased and lifespan variation decreased with increasing income level. These differences grew larger over time. In all countries, a marked postponement of early deaths led to a compression of mortality in the top three income quartiles for both genders. This did not occur for the lowest income quartile.

CONCLUSION

Increasing life expectancy is typically accompanied by postponement of early deaths and reduction of lifespan inequality in the higher-income groups. However, Nordic welfare societies are challenged by the fact that postponing premature deaths among people in the lowest-income groups is not taking place.

Interdependent pathways between socioeconomic position and health: A Swedish longitudinal register-based study

Health inequalities are generated by the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. From a life-course perspective, these conditions are formed by complex causal relationships with mutual and intertwined paths between socioeconomic position and health. This study attempts to disentangle some of these processes by examining pathways between socioeconomic position and health across the life-course. We used yearly Swedish national register data with information from over 31 years for two cohorts born 1941-1945 and 1961-1965. We analyzed associations between several indicators of childhood and adult socioeconomic position and health, measured by number of in-patient hospitalizations. We estimated within- and between-person associations using random intercept cross-lagged panel models. The results showed bi-directional associations between socioeconomic position and health that varied in strength across the life-course. Age variations in the associations were primarily observed when individuals aged into or out of age-stratified institutions. In ages where transitions from education to the labor market are common, the associations from health to income and education were strong. Around and after retirement age, the between-person association from health to income was weak, while the association from income to health strengthened. Within-person estimates showed no association between income and subsequent hospitalization among older persons, indicating no direct causal effect of income change on health in this age group. For persons of middle age, the associations were of similar strength in both directions and present at both the between- and within-person level. Our findings highlight the importance of theoretical frameworks and methods that can incorporate the interplay between social, economic, and biological processes over the life-course in order to understand how health inequalities are generated.

Exploring the longevity advantage of doctorates in Finland and Sweden: The role of smoking- and alcohol-related causes of death

Aims: Tobacco smoking and alcohol use contribute to differences in life expectancy between individuals with primary, secondary and tertiary education. Less is known about the contribution of these risk factors to differences at higher levels of education. We estimate the contribution of smoking and alcohol use to the life-expectancy differences between the doctorates and the other tertiary-educated groups in Finland and in Sweden. Methods: We used total population data from Finland and Sweden from 2011 to 2015 to calculate period life expectancies at 40 years of age. We present the results by sex and educational attainment, the latter categorised as doctorate or licentiate degrees, or other tertiary. We also present an age and cause of death decomposition to assess the contribution of deaths related to smoking and alcohol. Results: In Finland, deaths related to smoking and alcohol constituted 48.6% of the 2.1-year difference in life expectancy between men with doctorate degrees and the other tertiary-educated men, and 22.9% of the 2.1-year difference between women, respectively. In Sweden, these causes account for 22.2% of the 1.9-year difference among men, and 55.7% of the 1.6-year difference among women, which in the latter case is mainly due to smoking. Conclusions: Individuals with doctorates tend to live longer than other tertiary-educated individuals. This difference can be partly attributed to alcohol consumption and smoking.

Is the Association Between Late Life Morbidity and Disability Attenuated Over Time? Exploring the Dynamic Equilibrium of Morbidity Hypothesis

OBJECTIVE

There is evidence suggesting that the prevalence of disability in late life has declined over time while the prevalence of chronic diseases has increased. The dynamic equilibrium of morbidity hypothesis suggests that these patterns are due to the attenuation of the morbidity-disability link over time. This study aimed to test this assumption empirically.

METHODS

Data were drawn from three repeated cross-sections of SWEOLD, a nationally representative survey of the Swedish population aged 77 years and older. Poisson regression models were fitted to assess the trends in the prevalence of Activities of Daily Living (ADL) disability, Instrumental ADL (IADL) disability, and selected groups of chronic conditions. The changes in the associations between chronic conditions and disabilities were examined on both multiplicative and additive scales.

RESULTS

Between 1992 and 2011, the prevalence of both ADL and IADL disabilities decreased whereas the prevalence of nearly all chronic morbidities increased. Significant attenuations of the morbidity-disability associations were found for cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders, poor lung function, and psychological distress.

DISCUSSION

In agreement with the dynamic equilibrium of morbidity hypothesis, this study concludes that the morbidity-disability associations among the Swedish older adults largely waned between 1992 and 2011.

A gold mine, but still no Klondike: Nordic register data in health inequalities research

Aims: Future research on health inequality relies on data that cover life-course exposure, different birth cohorts and variation in policy contexts. Nordic register data have long been celebrated as a 'gold mine' for research, and fulfil many of these criteria. However, access to and use of such data are hampered by a number of hurdles and bottlenecks. We present and discuss the experiences of an ongoing Nordic consortium from the process of acquiring register data on socio-economic conditions and health in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Methods: We compare experiences of data-acquisition processes from a researcher's perspective in the four countries and discuss the comparability of register data and the modes of collaboration available to researchers, given the prevailing ethical and legal restrictions. Results: The application processes we experienced were time-consuming, and decision structures were often fragmented. We found substantial variation between the countries in terms of processing times, costs and the administrative burden of the researcher. Concerned agencies differed in policy and practice which influenced both how and when data were delivered. These discrepancies present a challenge to comparative research. Conclusions: We conclude that there are few signs of harmonisation, as called for by previous policy documents and research papers. Ethical vetting needs to be centralised both within and between countries in order to improve data access. Institutional factors that seem to facilitate access to register data at the national level include single storage environments for health and social data, simplified ethical vetting and user guidance.

The contribution of smoking-related deaths to the gender gap in life expectancy in Sweden between 1997 and 2016

Aims: In recent decades, smoking-related mortality has declined among men and increased among women in Sweden. We estimate the contribution of smoking-related deaths to the narrowing of the gender gap in life expectancy in Sweden between 1997 and 2016. Methods: We extracted population data on deaths and population under risk on the entire Swedish population aged 25 years and over for the period 1997-2016. Smoking-related mortality was assessed using an indirect method based on lung cancer mortality. We then estimated the contribution of smoking to the gender gap in life expectancy by comparing the observed life expectancies to life expectancies excluding smoking-related deaths. Results: The gender gap in life expectancy was 5.0 years in 1997 and 3.4 years in 2016. The gender gap narrowed by 1.6 years, of which 0.6 years were attributable to smoking-related deaths. Conclusions: The combination of decreasing smoking-related mortality among men and increasing smoking-related mortality among women in Sweden accounted for almost 40% of the narrowing of the gender gap in life expectancy during the period 1997-2016.

Contribution of smoking and alcohol consumption to income differences in life expectancy: evidence using Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish register data

Background

Despite being comparatively egalitarian welfare states, the Nordic countries have not been successful in reducing health inequalities. Previous studies have suggested that smoking and alcohol contribute to this pattern. Few studies have focused on variations in alcohol-related and smoking-related mortality within the Nordic countries. We assess the contribution of smoking and alcohol to differences in life expectancy between countries and between income quintiles within countries.

Methods

We collected data from registers in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden comprising men and women aged 25–79 years during 1995–2007. Estimations of alcohol-related mortality were based on underlying and contributory causes of death on individual death certificates, and smoking-related mortality was based on an indirect method that used lung cancer mortality as an indicator for the population-level impact of smoking on mortality.

Results

About 40%–70% of the between-country differences in life expectancy in the Nordic countries can be attributed to smoking and alcohol. Alcohol-related and smoking-related mortality also made substantial contributions to income differences in life expectancy within countries. The magnitude of the contributions were about 30% in Norway, Sweden and among Finnish women to around 50% among Finnish men and in Denmark.

Conclusions

Smoking and alcohol consumption make substantial contributions to both between-country differences in mortality among the Nordic countries and within-country differences in mortality by income. The size of these contributions vary by country and sex.

Educational inequalities in mortality are larger at low levels of income: A register-based study on premature mortality among 2.3 million Swedes, 2006-2009

Education develops skills that help individuals use available material resources more efficiently. When material resources are scarce, each decision becomes comparatively more important. Education may also protect from health-related income decline, since the highly educated tend to work in occupations with lower physical demands. Educational inequalities in health may, therefore, be more pronounced at lower levels of income. The aim of this study is to assess whether the shape of the income gradient in premature mortality depends on the level of education.

Total population data on education, income and mortality was obtained by linking several Swedish registers. Income was defined as five-year average disposable household income for ages 35–64 and mortality follow-up covered the period 2006–2009. The final population comprised 2.3 million individuals, 6.2 million person-years and 14,362 deaths. Income was modeled using splines in order to allow variation in the functional form of the association across educational categories. Poisson regression with robust standard errors was used.

The curvilinear shape of the association between income and mortality was more pronounced among those with a low education. Both absolute and relative educational inequalities in premature mortality tended to be larger at low levels of income. The greatest income differences in mortality were observed for those with a low education and the smallest for the highly educated.

Education and income interact as predictors of mortality. Education is a more important factor for health when access to material resources is limited.

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Income and education interact as predictors of mortality.

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Educational inequalities in mortality are larger at low levels of income.

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Education is negatively associated with mortality at all levels of income.

Influence of affordability of alcohol on educational disparities in alcohol-related mortality in Finland and Sweden: a time series analysis

BACKGROUND

Prices of alcohol and income tend to influence how much people buy and consume alcohol. Price and income may be combined into one measure, affordability of alcohol. Research on the association between affordability of alcohol and alcohol-related harm is scarce. Furthermore, no research exists on how this association varies across different subpopulations. We estimated the effects of affordability of alcohol on alcohol-related mortality according to gender and education in Finland and Sweden.

METHODS

Vector-autoregressive time series modelling was applied to the quarter-annual aggregations of alcohol-related deaths and affordability of alcohol in Finland in 1988-2007 and in Sweden in 1991-2008. Alcohol-related mortality was defined using information on both underlying and contributory causes of death. We calculated affordability of alcohol index using information on personal taxable income and prices of various types of alcohol.

RESULTS

Among Finnish men with secondary education, an increase of 1% in the affordability of total alcohol was associated with an increase of 0.028% (95% CI 0.004 to 0.053) in alcohol-related mortality. Similar associations were also found for affordability for various types of alcohol and for beer only in the lowest education group. We found few other significant positive associations for other subpopulations in Finland or Sweden. However, reverse associations were found among secondary-educated Swedish women.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, the associations between affordability of alcohol and alcohol-related mortality were relatively weak. Increased affordability of total alcoholic beverages was associated with higher rates of alcohol-related mortality only among Finnish men with secondary education.

Educational expansion and inequalities in mortality-A fixed-effects analysis using longitudinal data from 18 European populations

Objective

The aim of this paper is to empirically evaluate whether widening educational inequalities in mortality are related to the substantive shifts that have occurred in the educational distribution.

Materials and methods

Data on education and mortality from 18 European populations across several decades were collected and harmonized as part of the Demetriq project. Using a fixed-effects approach to account for time trends and national variation in mortality, we formally test whether the magnitude of relative inequalities in mortality by education is associated with the gender and age-group specific proportion of high and low educated respectively.

Results

The results suggest that in populations with larger proportions of high educated and smaller proportions of low educated, the excess mortality among intermediate and low educated is larger, all other things being equal.

Conclusion

We conclude that the widening educational inequalities in mortality being observed in recent decades may in part be attributed to educational expansion.

The contribution of alcohol consumption and smoking to educational inequalities in life expectancy among Swedish men and women during 1991-2008

Objectives

To assess the level and changes in contribution of smoking and alcohol-related mortality to educational differences in life expectancy in Sweden.

Methods

We used register data on the Swedish population at ages 30–74 during 1991–2008. Cause of death was used to identify alcohol-related deaths, while smoking-related mortality was estimated using lung cancer mortality to indirectly assess the impact of smoking on all-cause mortality.

Results

Alcohol consumption and smoking contributed to educational differences in life expectancy. Alcohol-related mortality was higher among men and contributed substantially to inequalities among men and made a small (but increasing) contribution to inequalities among women. Smoking-related mortality decreased among men but increased among women, primarily among the low educated. At the end of the follow-up, smoking-related mortality were at similar levels among men and women. The widening gap in life expectancy among women could largely be attributed to smoking.

Conclusions

Smoking and alcohol consumption contribute to educational differences in life expectancy among men and women. The majority of the widening in the educational gap in mortality among women can be attributed to alcohol and smoking-related mortality.

Changes in mortality inequalities over two decades: register based study of European countries

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether government efforts in reducing inequalities in health in European countries have actually made a difference to mortality inequalities by socioeconomic group.

DESIGN

Register based study.

DATA SOURCE

Mortality data by level of education and occupational class in the period 1990-2010, usually collected in a census linked longitudinal study design. We compared changes in mortality between the lowest and highest socioeconomic groups, and calculated their effect on absolute and relative inequalities in mortality (measured as rate differences and rate ratios, respectively).

SETTING

All European countries for which data on socioeconomic inequalities in mortality were available for the approximate period between years 1990 and 2010. These included Finland, Norway, Sweden, Scotland, England and Wales (data applied to both together), France, Switzerland, Spain (Barcelona), Italy (Turin), Slovenia, and Lithuania.

RESULTS

Substantial mortality declines occurred in lower socioeconomic groups in most European countries covered by this study. Relative inequalities in mortality widened almost universally, because percentage declines were usually smaller in lower socioeconomic groups. However, as absolute declines were often smaller in higher socioeconomic groups, absolute inequalities narrowed by up to 35%, particularly among men. Narrowing was partly driven by ischaemic heart disease, smoking related causes, and causes amenable to medical intervention. Progress in reducing absolute inequalities was greatest in Spain (Barcelona), Scotland, England and Wales, and Italy (Turin), and absent in Finland and Norway. More detailed studies preferably using individual level data are necessary to identify the causes of these variations.

CONCLUSIONS

Over the past two decades, trends in inequalities in mortality have been more favourable in most European countries than is commonly assumed. Absolute inequalities have decreased in several countries, probably more as a side effect of population wide behavioural changes and improvements in prevention and treatment, than as an effect of policies explicitly aimed at reducing health inequalities.

Growing gaps: The importance of income and family for educational inequalities in mortality among Swedish men and women 1990–2009

Aims: Although absolute levels of mortality have decreased among Swedish men and women in recent decades, educational inequalities in mortality have increased, especially among women. The aim of this study is to disentangle the role of income and family type in educational inequalities in mortality in Sweden during 1990–2009, focusing on gender differences. Methods: Data on individuals born in Sweden between the ages of 30 and 74 years were collected from total population registries, covering a total of 529,275 deaths and 729 million person-months. Temporary life expectancies (age 30–74 years) by education were calculated using life tables, and rate ratios were estimated with Poisson regression with robust standard errors. Results: Temporary life expectancy improved among all groups except low educated women. Relative educational inequalities in mortality (RRs) increased from 1.79 to 1.98 among men and from 1.78 to 2.10 among women. Variation in family type explained some of the inequalities among men, but not among women, and did not contribute to the trend. Variation in income explained a larger part of the educational inequalities among men compared to women and also explained the increase in educational inequalities in mortality among men and women. Conclusions: Increasing educational inequalities in mortality in Sweden may be attributed to the increase in income inequalities in mortality.

Variations in the relation between education and cause-specific mortality in 19 European populations: a test of the "fundamental causes" theory of social inequalities in health

Link and Phelan have proposed to explain the persistence of health inequalities from the fact that socioeconomic status is a "fundamental cause" which embodies an array of resources that can be used to avoid disease risks no matter what mechanisms are relevant at any given time. To test this theory we compared the magnitude of inequalities in mortality between more and less preventable causes of death in 19 European populations, and assessed whether inequalities in mortality from preventable causes are larger in countries with larger resource inequalities. We collected and harmonized mortality data by educational level on 19 national and regional populations from 16 European countries in the first decade of the 21st century. We calculated age-adjusted Relative Risks of mortality among men and women aged 30-79 for 24 causes of death, which were classified into four groups: amenable to behavior change, amenable to medical intervention, amenable to injury prevention, and non-preventable. Although an overwhelming majority of Relative Risks indicate higher mortality risks among the lower educated, the strength of the education-mortality relation is highly variable between causes of death and populations. Inequalities in mortality are generally larger for causes amenable to behavior change, medical intervention and injury prevention than for non-preventable causes. The contrast between preventable and non-preventable causes is large for causes amenable to behavior change, but absent for causes amenable to injury prevention among women. The contrast between preventable and non-preventable causes is larger in Central & Eastern Europe, where resource inequalities are substantial, than in the Nordic countries and continental Europe, where resource inequalities are relatively small, but they are absent or small in Southern Europe, where resource inequalities are also large. In conclusion, our results provide some further support for the theory of "fundamental causes". However, the absence of larger inequalities for preventable causes in Southern Europe and for injury mortality among women indicate that further empirical and theoretical analysis is necessary to understand when and why the additional resources that a higher socioeconomic status provides, do and do not protect against prevailing health risks.

Educational inequalities in three smoking-related causes of death in 18 European populations

INTRODUCTION

Smoking is an important determinant of socioeconomic inequalities in mortality in many countries. As the smoking epidemic progresses, updates on the development of mortality inequalities attributable to smoking are needed. We provide estimates of relative and absolute educational inequalities in mortality from lung cancer, aerodigestive cancers, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)/asthma in Europe and assess the contribution of these smoking-related diseases to inequalities in all-cause mortality.

METHODS

We use data from 18 European populations covering the time period 1998-2007. We present age-adjusted mortality rates, relative indices of inequality, and slope indices of inequality. We also calculate the contribution of inequalities in smoking-related mortality to inequalities in overall mortality.

RESULTS

Among men, relative inequalities in mortality from the 3 smoking-related causes of death combined are largest in the Czech Republic and Hungary and smallest in Spain, Sweden, and Denmark. Among women, these inequalities are largest in Scotland and Norway and smallest in Italy and Spain. They are often larger among men and tend to be larger for COPD/asthma than for lung and aerodigestive cancers. Relative inequalities in mortality from these conditions are often larger in younger age groups, particularly among women, suggesting a possible further widening of inequalities in mortality in the coming decades. The combined contribution of these diseases to inequality in all-cause mortality varies between 13% and 32% among men and between -5% and 30% among women.

CONCLUSION

Our results underline the continuing need for tobacco control policies, which take into account socioeconomic position.