[Education and occupational social class: their relationship as indicators of socio-economic position to study social inequalities in health using health interview surveys].

AIM

To analyse the relationship between social class based on occupation and level of education in the study of social inequalities in health and use of health services. DESSIGN: Cross-sectional study (health interview survey).

SETTING

General population of the city of Cornellà de Llobregat (Spain).

PARTICIPANTS

Representative sample of subjects aged 14 years old or over (1043 men and 1101 women) who personally answered the questionnaire.

MEASUREMENTS

We analyse the association between social class and level of studies and different independent variables (self-perceived health, smoking, medical visits) by means of logistic regression.

RESULTS

The proportion of men who declare their self-perceived health as poor is higher among those who have low education (45.4%) than among those who have primary education level or higher (25.9%). The prevalence of smoking shows a similar pattern (54.2% versus 41.5%), with a gradient effect, which is statistically non-significant. However, these differences are no longer evident if social class is used to group the individuals. No clear association is observed between the use of health services and socio economic level.

CONCLUSIONS

We need to use several indicators of socioeconomic position to evaluate social inequalities In this disadvantaged population, level of education seems to be a good indicator to study social inequalities in health.