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      Educational inequalities in subjective health in Germany from 1994 to 2014: a trend analysis using the German Socio-Economic Panel study (GSOEP)

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          Abstract

          Introduction

          As trend studies have shown, health inequalities by income and occupation have widened or remained stable. However, research on time trends in educational inequalities in health in Germany is scarce. The aim of this study is to analyse how educational inequalities in health evolved over a period of 21 years in the middle-aged population in Germany, and whether the trends differ by gender.

          Methods

          Data were obtained from the German Socio-Economic Panel covering the period from 1994 to 2014. In total, n=16 339 participants (106 221 person years) aged 30–49 years were included in the study sample. Educational level was measured based on the ‘Comparative Analysis of Social Mobility in Industrial Nations’ (CASMIN) classification. Health outcomes were self-rated health (SRH) as well as (mental and physical) health-related quality of life (HRQOL, SF-12v2). Absolute Index of Inequality (Slope Index of Inequality (SII)) and Relative Index of Inequality (RII) were calculated using linear and logarithmic regression analyses with robust SEs.

          Results

          Significant educational inequalities in SRH and physical HRQOL were found for almost every survey year from 1994 to 2014. Relative inequalities in SRH ranged from 1.50 to 2.10 in men and 1.25 to 1.87 in women (RII). Regarding physical HRQOL, the lowest educational group yielded 4.5 to 6.6 points (men) and 3.3 to 6.1 points (women) lower scores (SII). Although educational level increased over time, absolute and relative health inequalities remained largely stable over the last 21 years. For mental HRQOL, only few educational inequalities were found.

          Discussion

          This study found persistent educational inequalities in SRH and physical HRQOL among adults in Germany from 1994 to 2014. Our findings highlight the need to intensify efforts in social and health policies to tackle these persistent inequalities.

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          Most cited references44

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          Self-rated health and mortality: a review of twenty-seven community studies.

          We examine the growing number of studies of survey respondents' global self-ratings of health as predictors of mortality in longitudinal studies of representative community samples. Twenty-seven studies in U.S. and international journals show impressively consistent findings. Global self-rated health is an independent predictor of mortality in nearly all of the studies, despite the inclusion of numerous specific health status indicators and other relevant covariates known to predict mortality. We summarize and review these studies, consider various interpretations which could account for the association, and suggest several approaches to the next stage of research in this field.
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            Self rated health: Is it as good a predictor of subsequent mortality among adults in lower as well as in higher social classes?

            To analyse the predictive power of self rated health for mortality in different socioeconomic groups. Analysis of mortality rates and risk ratios of death during follow up among 170 223 respondents aged 16 years and above in the Swedish Survey of Living Conditions 1975-1997, in relation to self rated health stated at the interview, by age, sex, socioeconomic group, chronic illness and over time. There was a strong relation between poor self rated health and mortality, greater at younger ages, similar among men and women and among persons with and without a chronic illness. The relative relation between self rated health and subsequent death was stronger in higher than in lower socioeconomic groups, possibly because of the lower base mortality of these groups. However, the absolute mortality risk differences between persons reporting poor and good self rated health were similar across socioeconomic groups within each sex. The mortality risk difference between persons reporting poor and good self rated health was considerably higher among persons with a chronic illness than among persons without a chronic illness. The mortality risk among persons reporting poor health was increased for shorter (<2 years) as well as longer (10+ years) periods of follow up. The results suggest that poor self rated health is a strong predictor of subsequent mortality in all subgroups studied, and that self rated health therefore may be a useful outcome measure.
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              Trends in socioeconomic inequalities in self-assessed health in 10 European countries.

              Changes over time in inequalities in self-reported health are studied for increasingly more countries, but a comprehensive overview encompassing several countries is still lacking. The general aim of this article is to determine whether inequalities in self-assessed health in 10 European countries showed a general tendency either to increase or to decrease between the 1980s and the 1990s and whether trends varied among countries. Data were obtained from nationally representative interview surveys held in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, England, The Netherlands, West Germany, Austria, Italy, and Spain. The proportion of respondents with self-assessed health less than 'good' was measured in relation to educational level and income level. Inequalities were measured by means of age-standardized prevalence rates and odds ratios (ORs). Socioeconomic inequalities in self-assessed health showed a high degree of stability in European countries. For all countries together, the ORs comparing low with high educational levels remained stable for men (2.61 in the 1980s and 2.54 in the 1990s) but increased slightly for women (from 2.48 to 2.70). The ORs comparing extreme income quintiles increased from 3.13 to 3.37 for men and from 2.43 to 2.86 for women. Increases could be demonstrated most clearly for Italian and Spanish men and women, and for Dutch women, whereas inequalities in health in the Nordic countries showed no tendency to increase. The results underscore the persistent nature of socioeconomic inequalities in health in modern societies. The relatively favourable trends in the Nordic countries suggest that these countries' welfare states were able to buffer many of the adverse effects of economic crises on the health of disadvantaged groups.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                BMJ Open
                BMJ Open
                bmjopen
                bmjopen
                BMJ Open
                BMJ Publishing Group (BMA House, Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9JR )
                2044-6055
                2018
                8 June 2018
                : 8
                : 6
                : e019755
                Affiliations
                [1 ] departmentInstitute of Medical Sociology, Medical Faculty , Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg , Halle, Germany
                [2 ] departmentUnit of Social Determinants of Health, Department of Epidemiology and Health Monitoring , Robert Koch Institute , Berlin, Germany
                [3 ] departmentInstitute of Medical Sociology, Health Services Research, and Rehabilitation Science , Faculty of Human Sciences and Faculty of Medicine, University of Cologne , Cologne, Germany
                Author notes
                [Correspondence to ] Dr. Irene Moor; irene.moor@ 123456medizin.uni-halle.de
                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3245-5176
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6623-1579
                Article
                bmjopen-2017-019755
                10.1136/bmjopen-2017-019755
                6009455
                29884694
                1a11931d-6e21-42ce-bf17-05af95c15160
                © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

                This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

                History
                : 25 September 2017
                : 15 March 2018
                : 04 April 2018
                Funding
                Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001659, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft;
                Categories
                Public Health
                Research
                1506
                1724
                Custom metadata
                unlocked

                Medicine
                health inequalities,socioeconomic status,self-rated health,sf 12,soep
                Medicine
                health inequalities, socioeconomic status, self-rated health, sf 12, soep

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