OBJECTIVES The aim of this paper is to estimate the impact of smoking and alcohol use on the increase in social inequality in mortality in Denmark in the period 1985-2009. DESIGN A nationwide register-based study. SETTING Denmark. PARTICIPANTS The whole Danish population aged 30 years or more in the period 1985-2009. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES The primary outcome is mortalit...

BACKGROUND Educational inequalities in total mortality in Norway have widened during 1960-2000. We wanted to investigate if inequalities have continued to increase in the post millennium decade, and which causes of deaths were the main drivers. METHODS All deaths (total and cause specific) in the adult Norwegian population aged 45-74 years over five decades, until 2010 were included; in all 7...

BACKGROUND Socioeconomic inequalities in alcohol-related mortality have been documented in several European countries, but it is unknown whether the magnitude of these inequalities differs between countries and whether these inequalities increase or decrease over time. METHODS AND FINDINGS We collected and harmonized data on mortality from four alcohol-related causes (alcoholic psychosis, dep...

OBJECTIVES Despite a large body of empirical literature, a consensus has not been reached concerning the health effects of income inequality. This study contributes to ongoing debates by examining the robustness of the income inequality-population health relationship in Argentina, using five different income inequality indexes (each sensitive to inequalities in differing parts of the income spe...

Previous research has revealed much global convergence over the past several decades in life expectancy at birth and in infant mortality, which are closely linked. But trends in the variance of length of life, and in the variance of length of adult life in particular, are less well understood. I examine life-span inequality in a comprehensive panel of 180 countries observed in 1970 and 2000. Co...

INTRODUCTION The objective of this paper is to investigate the relation between state and local government expenditures on public services and all cause mortality in 48 US states in 1987, and determine if the relation between income inequality and mortality is conditioned on levels of public services available in these jurisdictions. METHODS Per capita public expenditures and a needs adjusted...

OBJECTIVES To study prospectively the differences in health inequality in men and women from 1986-96 using the Office for National Statistics' longitudinal study and new socioeconomic classification. To assess the relative importance of social class (based on employment characteristics) and social position according to the general social advantage of the household to mortality risk in men and w...

BACKGROUND A lively public and academic debate has highlighted the potential health risks of living in regions characterized by inequality. Research provides an ambiguous picture, however, with positive association between income equality and health mainly being found on higher levels of geographical division, such as nations, but rarely at local level. METHODS We examined the association bet...

Objectives To study prospectively the differences in health inequality in men and women from 1986-96 using the Office for National Statistics’ longitudinal study and new socioeconomic classification. To assess the relative importance of social class (based on employment characteristics) and social position according to the general social advantage of the household to mortality risk in men and w...