Inequality in individual mortality and economic conditions earlier in life

Berg, Gérard J. van den; Lindeboom, Maarten; López, Marta Donat

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.08.012

Cited by 33 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Secondly, we do not precisely know how deep the changes in the structural determinants of health must be in order to entail negative consequences in health for different social groups different social groups [35]. Nor is it clear in which health variables the effects of the crisis will be more rapidly noticeable [18].…”

Section: Why Are These Results Observed? Reflections On the Effect Ofmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of economic crises on social inequalities in health: what do we know so far?

Bacigalupe

Escolar-Pujolar²

2014

Int J Equity Health

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Since 2008, Western countries are going through a deep economic crisis whose health impacts seem to be fundamentally counter-cyclical: when economic conditions worsen, so does health, and mortality tends to rise. While a growing number of studies have presented evidence on the effect of crises on the average population health, a largely neglected aspect of research is the impact of crises and the related political responses on social inequalities in health, even if the negative consequences of the crises are primarily borne by the most disadvantaged populations. This commentary will reflect on the results of the studies that have analyzed the effect of economic crises on social inequalities in health up to 2013. With some exceptions, the studies show an increase in health inequalities during crises, especially during the Southeast Asian and Japanese crises and the Soviet Union crisis, although it is not always evident for both sexes or all health or socioeconomic variables. In the Nordic countries during the nineties, a clear worsening of health equity did not occur. Results about the impacts of the current economic recession on health equity are still inconsistent. Some of the factors that could explain this variability in results are the role of welfare state policies, the diversity of time periods used in the analyses, the heterogeneity of socioeconomic and health variables considered, the changes in the socioeconomic profile of the groups under comparison in times of crises, and the type of measures used to analyze the magnitude of social inequalities in health. Social epidemiology should further collaborate with other disciplines to help produce more accurate and useful evidence about the relationship between crises and health equity.

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Section: Why Are These Results Observed? Reflections On the Effect Ofmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of economic crises on social inequalities in health: what do we know so far?

Bacigalupe

Escolar-Pujolar²

2014

Int J Equity Health

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“…Few studies examined the health of infants or children during the Recession, an important omission given evidence that early-life economic conditions may have lasting consequences [94]. Moreover, aside from a well-developed literature on unemployment and alcohol, the evidence on smoking, diet/nutrition, and physical activity was inconclusive, and no studies explicitly examined impacts of foreclosure on health behaviors.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health Impacts of the Great Recession: a Critical Review

et al. 2016

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The severity, sudden onset, and multipronged nature of the Great Recession (2007–2009) provided a unique opportunity to examine the health impacts of macroeconomic downturn. We comprehensively review empirical literature examining the relationship between the Recession and mental and physical health outcomes in developed nations. Overall, studies reported detrimental impacts of the Recession on health, particularly mental health. Macro- and individual-level employment- and housing-related sequelae of the Recession were associated with declining fertility and self-rated health, and increasing morbidity, psychological distress, and suicide, although traffic fatalities and population-level alcohol consumption declined. Health impacts were stronger among men and racial/ethnic minorities. Importantly, strong social safety nets in some European countries appear to have buffered those populations from negative health effects. This literature, however, still faces multiple methodological challenges, and more time may be needed to observe the Recession’s full health impact. We conclude with suggestions for future work in this field.

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“…However, previous studies have found no systematic dependence of the size and the parental social-class composition of birth cohorts on the business cycle in European countries in the pre-1945 years. [61] examine this for the Netherlands, [62] for Sweden, and [10] for Denmark. In the Netherlands there was a slight reduction of the fraction of newborns among the highest social class in recessions, but leaving out that class does not affect the estimated long-run effect on late-life mortality.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic Conditions at the Time of Birth and Cognitive Abilities Late in Life: Evidence from Ten European Countries

2013

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With ageing populations, it becomes increasingly important to understand the determinants of cognitive ability among the elderly. We apply survey data of 17,070 respondents from ten countries to examine several domains of cognitive functioning at ages 60+, and we link them to the macro-economic deviations in the year of birth. We find that economic conditions at birth significantly influence cognitive functioning late in life in various domains. Recessions negatively influence numeracy, verbal fluency, recall abilities, as well as the score on the omnibus cognitive indicator. The results are robust; controlling for current characteristics does not change effect sizes and significance. We discuss possible causal social and biological pathways.

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Inequality in individual mortality and economic conditions earlier in life

Cited by 33 publications

References 18 publications

The impact of economic crises on social inequalities in health: what do we know so far?

The impact of economic crises on social inequalities in health: what do we know so far?

Health Impacts of the Great Recession: a Critical Review

Economic Conditions at the Time of Birth and Cognitive Abilities Late in Life: Evidence from Ten European Countries

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