Berufsbezogene sozio-ökonomische Gruppen für die Schweiz: sozialwissenschaftliche Grundlagen und Untersuchungen zur Validität

Abstract

A system of 15 socio-economic groups (SOEG) based on occupation and position within occupation is proposed and discussed as a basis for statistical analyses of mortality data. In order to check the validity of this classification, a random sample of 3058 male death certificates is compared with the information obtained from the corresponding 1980 census records. The comparison reveals that most of the SOEGs have satisfactory validity. The same is true for a model emulating the widely used English system of Social Classes (SC). Estimates of the differences in mortality between SOEGs or SCs can be improved significantly applying correction factors derived from the sample of linked death certificates and census records.

Mortality by occupational class among men 30–64years in 11 European countries

“…An additional evaluation was possible for Switzerland, thanks to a special study in which for a sample of death certi®cates, the occupation mentioned at the certi®cate was compared to the occupation of the same person as registered at the preceding population census (Beer et al, 1986). On the basis of an analysis of data from this sample, we estimated that manual vs non-manual rate ratios for Switzerland are underestimated by 15% or less (Kunst and Groenhof, 1996b).…”

Socioeconomic Groups and Cancer Risk at Death in the Swiss Canton of Vaud

“…Validation of this sodoeconomic classification has been considered in a separate study, which showed satisfactory concordance between death certificate and Census data. 14 In order to obtain meaningful numbers in each category, we grouped the six original sotial classes into three categories, including respectively the Registrar General's Social classes I and II (professional, managerial and intermediate), sodal classes III nM or III M (skilled occupations), and social class IV or V (partly skilled and unskilled occupations).…”

Oral, pharyngeal and laryngeal cancer as a cause of death among Swiss cooks.

“…This kind of bias was reduced by multiplying the expected numbers of deaths with an occupation-specific correction factor based on a sample of 3058 men, deceased in 1981, whose death certificates had been linked to their 1980 census information and compared for occupational information (23). • Code of the Internalional Classifi cation of Diseases in parentheses.…”