Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
J Epidemiol Community Health. 2012 Dec;66(12):1129-36. doi: 10.1136/jech-2011-200699. Epub 2012 Jun 20.
Area-based measures of socioeconomic position (SEP) suitable for epidemiological research are lacking in Switzerland. The authors developed the Swiss neighbourhood index of SEP (Swiss-SEP).
Neighbourhoods of 50 households with overlapping boundaries were defined using Census 2000 and road network data. Median rent per square metre, proportion households headed by a person with primary education or less, proportion headed by a person in manual or unskilled occupation and the mean number of persons per room were analysed in principle component analysis. The authors compared the index with independent income data and examined associations with mortality from 2001 to 2008.
1.27 million overlapping neighbourhoods were defined. Education, occupation and housing variables had loadings of 0.578, 0.570 and 0.362, respectively, and median rent had a loading of -0.459. Mean yearly equivalised income of households increased from SFr42 000 to SFr72 000 between deciles of neighbourhoods with lowest and highest SEP. Comparing deciles of neighbourhoods with lowest to highest SEP, the age- and sex-adjusted HR was 1.38 (95% CI 1.36 to 1.41) for all-cause mortality, 1.83 (95% CI 1.71 to 1.95) for lung cancer, 1.48 (95% CI 1.44 to 1.51) for cardiovascular diseases, 2.42 (95% CI 1.94 to 3.01) for traffic accidents, 0.93 (95% CI 0.85 to 1.02) for breast cancer and 0.86 (95% CI 0.78 to 0.95) for suicide.
Developed using a novel approach to define neighbourhoods, the Swiss-SEP index was strongly associated with household income and some causes of death. It will be useful for clinical- and population-based studies, where individual-level socioeconomic data are often missing, and to investigate the effects on health of the socioeconomic characteristics of a place.
适用于流行病学研究的基于区域的社会经济地位（SEP）衡量标准在瑞士尚缺乏。作者开发了瑞士邻里社会经济地位指数（Swiss-SEP）。
利用 2000 年人口普查和道路网络数据，界定了 50 户重叠边界的邻里。在主成分分析中分析了每平方米中位数租金、以受过小学或以下教育者为户主的家庭比例、以体力劳动者或非熟练工人为户主的家庭比例以及每人房间数。作者将该指数与独立收入数据进行了比较，并检验了其与 2001 年至 2008 年死亡率的相关性。
共定义了 127 万个重叠邻里。教育、职业和住房变量的负荷分别为 0.578、0.570 和 0.362，中位数租金的负荷为-0.459。最低和最高社会经济地位邻里的家庭年等效收入从 42000 瑞士法郎增加到 72000 瑞士法郎。比较最低和最高社会经济地位邻里的十分位数，调整年龄和性别后，全因死亡率的年龄和性别调整 HR 为 1.38（95%CI 1.36 至 1.41）、肺癌为 1.83（95%CI 1.71 至 1.95）、心血管疾病为 1.48（95%CI 1.44 至 1.51）、交通事故为 2.42（95%CI 1.94 至 3.01）、乳腺癌为 0.93（95%CI 0.85 至 1.02）、自杀为 0.86（95%CI 0.78 至 0.95）。
使用一种新方法定义邻里，Swiss-SEP 指数与家庭收入和一些死因密切相关。它将有助于临床和基于人群的研究，在这些研究中，个体层面的社会经济数据往往缺失，并用于研究地点的社会经济特征对健康的影响。
