Childhood socioeconomic circumstances have an independent effect on adult health and health-related behaviour: the risk of health problems and health damaging behaviour is higher in lower childhood socioeconomic groups. The independent effect of childhood circumstances on adult health operates for a small part through unhealthy behaviour.

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Study objective -To describe the differences in health behaviours in disparate marital status groups and to estimate the extent to which these can explain differences in health associated with marital status.Design -Baseline data of a prospective cohort study were used. Directly age standardised percentages of each marital group that engaged in each ofthe following behaviours -smoking, alcohol consumption, coffee consumption, breakfast, leisure exercise, and body mass indexwere computed. Multiple logistic regression models were fitted to estimate the health differences associated with marital status with and without control for differences in health behaviours.

The processes by which excellent health is generated probably have much in common with those which generate ill-health. At the same time it is obvious that our understanding of the determinants of ill-health is better than that of the determinants of excellent health, and further study of the latter is recommended.

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The study objective was to assess the prevalence, level of treatment, and control of hypertension in a general elderly population according to age and sociodemographic factors. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 7983 participants of the Rotterdam Study who were >/=55 years old and living in a district of Rotterdam. The prevalence of hypertension was based on blood pressure levels (>/=160/95 mm Hg) and the use of blood pressure-lowering medication for the indication of hypertension, type of treatment, and control of hypertension. Systolic blood pressure rises with age, whereas diastolic blood pressure declines. The prevalence of hypertension increases with age and was higher among women (39%) than among men (31%). About 80% of the hypertensives were aware of having hypertension, and 82% of the 80% were treated. For 70% of them, treatment was adequate with reference to conservative criteria. Hypertension was more prevalent among persons not living in a home for the elderly, for more-educated men, and for less-educated women. Persons without a partner and men living in a home for the elderly had a higher risk of being unaware of or of not being treated for existing hypertension. Treatment was more often successful among those living in a home for the elderly. The prevalence of hypertension was higher among older women and increased with age in both genders. A large proportion of hypertensive elderly persons were aware and were successfully treated for hypertension. The degree of awareness and control appeared to be affected by sociodemographic factors. More importantly, the majority of hypertensives did not have their hypertension well controlled. This group requires more attention by medical practitioners to reduce the burden of cardiovascular diseases in elderly persons.

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Study objective-To test the hypothesis that the association between socioeconomic status and mortality rates cuts across the major causes of death for middle aged and elderly men. Design-25 year follow up of mortality in relation to employment grade. Setting-The first Whitehall study. Participants-18 001 male civil servants aged 40-69 years who attended the initial screening between 1967 and 1970 and were followed up for at least 25 years. Main outcome measure-Specific causes of death. Results-After more than 25 years of follow up of civil servants, aged 40-69 years at entry to the study, employment grade diVerences still exist in total mortality and for nearly all specific causes of death. Main risk factors (cholesterol, smoking, systolic blood pressure, glucose intolerance and diabetes) could only explain one third of this gradient. Comparing the older retired group with the younger pre-retirement group, the diVerentials in mortality remained but were less pronounced. The largest decline was seen for chronic bronchitis, gastrointestinal diseases and genitourinary diseases. Conclusions-DiVerentials in mortality persist at older ages for almost all causes of death.