Vanthomme Katrien, Vandenheede Hadewijch, Hagedoorn Paulien, Gadeyne Sylvie
Interface Demography, Department of Social Research, Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences and Solvay Business School, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussels, Belgium.
BMC Public Health. 2016 Jun 10;16:493. doi: 10.1186/s12889-016-3139-1.
Ample studies have observed an adverse association between individual socioeconomic position (SEP) and lung cancer mortality. Moreover, the presence of a partner has shown to be a crucial determinant of health. Yet, few studies have assessed whether partner's SEP affects health in addition to individual SEP. This paper will study whether own SEP (education), partner's SEP (partner's education) and own and partner's SEP combined (housing conditions), are associated with lung cancer mortality in Belgium.
Data consist of the Belgian 2001 census linked to register data on cause-specific mortality for 2001-2011. The study population includes all married or cohabiting Belgian inhabitants aged 40-84 years. Age-standardized lung cancer mortality rates (direct standardization) and mortality rate ratios (Poisson regression) were computed for the different SEP groups.
In men, we observed a clear inverse association between all SEP indicators (own and partner's education, and housing conditions) and lung cancer mortality. Men benefit from having a higher educated partner in terms of lower lung cancer mortality rates. These observations hold for both middle-aged and older men. For women, the picture is less uniform. In middle-aged and older women, housing conditions is inversely associated with lung cancer mortality. As for partner's education, for middle-aged women, the association is rather weak whereas for older women, there is no such association. Whereas the educational level of middle-aged women is inversely associated with lung cancer mortality, in older women this association disappears in the fully adjusted model.
Both men and women benefit from being in a relationship with a high-educated partner. It seems that for men, the educational level of their partner is of great importance while for women the housing conditions is more substantial. Both research and policy interventions should allow for the family level as well.
大量研究观察到个人社会经济地位（SEP）与肺癌死亡率之间存在负相关。此外，伴侣的存在已被证明是健康的关键决定因素。然而，很少有研究评估伴侣的社会经济地位除了个人社会经济地位之外是否还会影响健康。本文将研究个人社会经济地位（教育程度）、伴侣的社会经济地位（伴侣的教育程度）以及个人和伴侣的社会经济地位综合因素（住房条件）是否与比利时的肺癌死亡率相关。
数据包括2001年比利时人口普查数据以及2001 - 2011年按死因分类的登记死亡数据。研究人群包括所有年龄在40 - 84岁的已婚或同居比利时居民。计算不同社会经济地位组的年龄标准化肺癌死亡率（直接标准化）和死亡率比（泊松回归）。
在男性中，我们观察到所有社会经济地位指标（个人和伴侣的教育程度以及住房条件）与肺癌死亡率之间存在明显的负相关。就较低的肺癌死亡率而言，男性受益于拥有受过高等教育的伴侣。这些观察结果在中年和老年男性中均成立。对于女性而言，情况则不太一致。在中年和老年女性中，住房条件与肺癌死亡率呈负相关。至于伴侣的教育程度，对于中年女性，这种关联相当微弱，而对于老年女性，则不存在这种关联。虽然中年女性的教育水平与肺癌死亡率呈负相关，但在老年女性中，这种关联在完全调整模型中消失。
男性和女性都受益于与受过高等教育的伴侣建立关系。似乎对男性来说，伴侣的教育程度非常重要，而对女性来说，住房条件更为重要。研究和政策干预都应考虑到家庭层面。
