| 1. |
- Baars, Adája E, et al.
(author)
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Fruit and vegetable consumption and its contribution to inequalities in life expectancy and disability-free life expectancy in ten European countries
- 2019
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In: International Journal of Public Health. - : Springer. - 1661-8556 .- 1661-8564. ; 64:6, s. 861-872
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- OBJECTIVES: To assess to what extent educational differences in total life expectancy (TLE) and disability-free life expectancy (DFLE) could be reduced by improving fruit and vegetable consumption in ten European countries.METHODS: Data from national census or registries with mortality follow-up, EU-SILC, and ESS were used in two scenarios to calculate the impact: the upward levelling scenario (exposure in low educated equals exposure in high educated) and the elimination scenario (no exposure in both groups). Results are estimated for men and women between ages 35 and 79 years.RESULTS: Varying by country, upward levelling reduced inequalities in DFLE by 0.1-1.1 years (1-10%) in males, and by 0.0-1.3 years (0-18%) in females. Eliminating exposure reduced inequalities in DFLE between 0.6 and 1.7 years for males (6-15%), and between 0.1 years and 1.8 years for females (3-20%).CONCLUSIONS: Upward levelling of fruit and vegetable consumption would have a small, positive effect on both TLE and DFLE, and could potentially reduce inequalities in TLE and DFLE.
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| 2. |
- Hu, Yannan, et al.
(author)
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Trends in socioeconomic inequalities in self-assessed health in 17 European countries between 1990 and 2010
- 2016
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In: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. - : BMJ. - 0143-005X .- 1470-2738. ; 70:7, s. 644-652
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Between the 1990s and 2000s, relative inequalities in all-cause mortality increased, whereas absolute inequalities decreased in many European countries. Whether similar trends can be observed for inequalities in other health outcomes is unknown. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of trends in socioeconomic inequalities in self-assessed health (SAH) in Europe between 1990 and 2010.METHODS: Data were obtained from nationally representative surveys from 17 European countries for the various years between 1990 and 2010. The age-standardised prevalence of less-than-good SAH was analysed by education and occupation among men and women aged 30-79 years. Socioeconomic inequalities were measured by means of absolute rate differences and relative rate ratios. Meta-analysis with random-effects models was used to examine the trends of inequalities.RESULTS: We observed declining trends in the prevalence of less-than-good SAH in many countries, particularly in Southern and Eastern Europe and the Baltic states. In all countries, less-than-good SAH was more prevalent in lower educational and manual groups. For all countries together, absolute inequalities in SAH were mostly constant, whereas relative inequalities increased. Almost no country consistently experienced a significant decline in either absolute or relative inequalities.CONCLUSIONS: Trends in inequalities in SAH in Europe were generally less favourable than those found for inequalities in mortality, and there was generally no correspondence between the two when we compared the trends within countries. In order to develop policies or interventions that effectively reduce inequalities in SAH, a better understanding of the causes of these inequalities is needed.
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| 3. |
- Mackenbach, Johan P, et al.
(author)
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Trends in health inequalities in 27 European countries
- 2018
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In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 115:25, s. 6440-6445
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Unfavorable health trends among the lowly educated have recently been reported from the United States. We analyzed health trends by education in European countries, paying particular attention to the possibility of recent trend interruptions, including interruptions related to the impact of the 2008 financial crisis. We collected and harmonized data on mortality from ca 1980 to ca 2014 for 17 countries covering 9.8 million deaths and data on self-reported morbidity from ca 2002 to ca 2014 for 27 countries covering 350,000 survey respondents. We used interrupted time-series analyses to study changes over time and country-fixed effects analyses to study the impact of crisis-related economic conditions on health outcomes. Recent trends were more favorable than in previous decades, particularly in Eastern Europe, where mortality started to decline among lowly educated men and where the decline in less-than-good self-assessed health accelerated, resulting in some narrowing of health inequalities. In Western Europe, mortality has continued to decline among the lowly and highly educated, and although the decline of less-than-good self-assessed health slowed in countries severely hit by the financial crisis, this affected lowly and highly educated equally. Crisis-related economic conditions were not associated with widening health inequalities. Our results show that the unfavorable trends observed in the United States are not found in Europe. There has also been no discernible short-term impact of the crisis on health inequalities at the population level. Both findings suggest that European countries have been successful in avoiding an aggravation of health inequalities.
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