Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE, UK.
Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2012 Mar;47(3):351-9. doi: 10.1007/s00127-011-0345-0. Epub 2011 Feb 4.
The relative prevalence of common mental health problems among different ethnic groups in Britain is one of the least researched topics in health variations research. We calculate and compare income-related inequalities in common mental disorders among ethnic groups in Britain.
Data from a nationally representative survey of ethnic minorities (the EMPIRIC survey) were used to calculate concentration index values to indicate the extent of income-related inequalities within and across ethnic groups.
Looking at income-related inequalities in common mental disorders within each of the ethnic groups, it was found that the burden of these disorders were greater for the lower income groups among the Irish, White and African Caribbean communities. Within-group inequality was less clearly defined for each of the three Asian communities: Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani. However, when the data were pooled and individuals were assigned income ranks in the pooled set (not within their own ethnic group), the relative position of those in lower income groups among the different groups was striking. The poor among the Bangladeshi, Pakistani and the African Caribbean groups clearly suffered both from low income and a greater burden of mental health morbidity than the other three groups. The effect of lower income is thus worse for the mental health of populations if they are African Caribbean, Pakistani or Bangladeshi than if they are White, Irish or Indian.
Inequality in mental health morbidity between and within ethnic groups is at least partly linked to income, and thus to employment and education. Tackling disadvantage and discrimination in these areas could help to tackle the challenge of mental ill-health.
在英国，不同族裔群体常见心理健康问题的相对流行率是健康差异研究中研究最少的课题之一。我们计算并比较了英国不同族裔群体常见精神障碍的与收入相关的不平等现象。
利用少数民族全国代表性调查（EMPIRIC 调查）的数据来计算集中指数值，以表明族裔群体内部和群体之间与收入相关的不平等程度。
在每个族裔群体中，观察常见精神障碍与收入相关的不平等现象，发现在爱尔兰人、白人以及非洲加勒比社区中，较低收入群体的这些障碍负担更大。对于印度人、孟加拉人和巴基斯坦人这三个亚洲社区中的每一个社区，群体内的不平等现象不太明显。但是，当将数据汇总并在汇总组中为个人分配收入等级（而不是在他们自己的族裔群体中）时，不同群体中较低收入群体的相对位置非常引人注目。孟加拉人、巴基斯坦人和非洲加勒比群体中的贫困人口显然既收入较低，又面临更大的心理健康负担，这比其他三个群体更为严重。因此，如果一个群体是非洲加勒比人、巴基斯坦人或孟加拉人，那么与他们是白人、爱尔兰人或印度人相比，其人口的心理健康状况受到较低收入的影响更为严重。
族裔群体之间和内部的精神健康不良不平等现象至少部分与收入有关，从而与就业和教育有关。解决这些领域的劣势和歧视问题可能有助于解决心理健康不良的挑战。
