Pooled relative risks for education and income in relation to all-cause mortality according to study or country characteristics
| Pooled relative risk (95% CI) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All-cause mortality | n | Low education (reference: high education) | n | Low income (reference: high income) |
| Mean age | ||||
| <65 years | 14 | 1.62 (1.44 to 1.81) | 8 | 1.50 (1.30 to 1.74) |
| ≥65 years | 9 | 1.16 (1.13 to 1.20)*** | 4 | 1.17 (0.96 to 1.44)* |
| GDP/capita | ||||
| High-income country | 11 | 1.29 (1.17 to 1.43) | 6 | 1.40 (1.20 to 1.64) |
| Middle-/low-income country | 11 | 1.47 (1.30 to 1.65)* | 5 | 1.45 (1.09 to 1.94) |
| Gini index† | ||||
| 0.2–0.29 | 6 | 1.23 (1.16 to 1.30) | 2 | 1.34 (0.99 to 1.82) |
| 0.3–0.39 | 9 | 1.62 (1.46 to 1.80)*** | 6 | 1.38 (1.19 to 1.60) |
| ≥0.4 | 4 | 1.76 (1.24 to 2.52)*** | 1 | 3.85 (2.30 to 6.46)** |
| Region | ||||
| East Asia | 14 | 1.25 (1.16 to 1.35) | 6 | 1.40 (1.20 to 1.64) |
| South Asia | 5 | 1.47 (1.31 to 1.65)** | 3 | 1.25 (0.91 to 1.73) |
| South-East Asia | 3 | 2.72 (2.05 to 3.59)*** | 2 | 1.78 (0.93 to 3.41) |
| Years of study | ||||
| Before 1995 | 11 | 1.35 (1.22 to 1.50) | 5 | 1.66 (1.28 to 2.15) |
| Since 1995 | 11 | 1.48 (1.29 to 1.71) | 6 | 1.28 (1.14 to 1.44)* |
| Cohort base‡ | ||||
| Rural | 10 | 1.47 (1.31 to 1.64) | 3 | 1.33 (1.22 to 1.45) |
| Urban | 10 | 1.47 (1.18 to 1.82) | 5 | 1.47 (0.98 to 2.20) |
High-income countries are Japan, Singapore and Korea; middle-/low-income countries are China, India, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam and Bangladesh.
East Asian countries are Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong; South Asian countries are India and Bangladesh; South-East Asian countries are Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam.
Differences between groups were tested using Wald tests: *p<0.05, **p<0.001, ***p<0.0001.
†Five studies among people aged >75 years were excluded.
‡Three studies that used national data and cannot be classified as rural or urban population were excluded.
GDP, gross domestic product.