© 2004 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
EDITORIAL
Socioeconomic status
Socioeconomic differentials in mortality among older people
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Ann Bowling
Department of Primary Care and Population Sciences, University College London, Royal Free Campus, Rowland Hill Street, London NW3 2PF, UK; a.bowling@ucl.ac.uk
Further investigation needed to find the most useful indicators of socioeconomic status in the elderly population
Keywords: socioeconomic inequalities; equity; measurement; mortality; elderly population
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Research in social epidemiology and medical sociology has consistently shown that people in lower socioeconomic status groups experience poorer health and live shorter lives than those in higher status groups.1 However, investigations of such differentials among people aged 65 and over is still comparatively rare. In this issue of the journal Huisman et al report on the results of their analyses of socioeconomic status (housing tenure, education) and mortality among older people.2 These were based on data from mortality registries linked with population census data from 11 European countries and regions. Institutionalised populations were not included.
Their results indicate that absolute and relative socioeconomic inequalities in mortality persisted into old age among men and women, and that relative socioeconomic inequalities in mortality were as great among older as middle aged people in some populations, although the age pattern of relative inequalities differed between populations by sex. However, an
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