Kunst A E, Geurts J J, van den Berg J
Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
J Epidemiol Community Health. 1995 Apr;49(2):117-23. doi: 10.1136/jech.49.2.117.
To assess the extent to which the size of socioeconomic inequalities in self reported health varies among industrialised countries.
Cross sectional data on the association between educational level and several health indicators were obtained from national health interview surveys. This association was quantified by means of an inequality index based on logistic regression analysis.
The national, non-institutionalised populations of the United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, the United States, and Canada were studied. The age group was 15-64 years, and the study period was 1983-90.
Representative population samples with the number of respondents ranging from approximately 6000 (Denmark) to 90,000 (the United States) were studied.
For men, the smallest health inequalities were observed for the United Kingdom and Sweden, and the largest inequalities for Italy and the United States. Other countries held an intermediate position. The same international pattern was observed for women, except that relatively small inequalities were also observed for Dutch women.
The results agree to a large extent with those of previous comparative studies. The international pattern observed here may be partly related to "subjective" aspects of self reported health, such as the propensity to complain and illness behaviour. The results challenge the view that disease and disability are distributed less equally in the UK than in countries like Sweden.
评估在工业化国家中，自我报告健康状况方面社会经济不平等的程度差异情况。
通过全国健康访谈调查获取教育水平与若干健康指标之间关联的横断面数据。这种关联通过基于逻辑回归分析的不平等指数进行量化。
对英国、瑞典、丹麦、德国、荷兰、意大利、美国和加拿大的全国非机构化人口进行研究。年龄组为15 - 64岁，研究时间段为1983 - 1990年。
研究具有代表性的人口样本，受访者数量从大约6000人（丹麦）到90000人（美国）不等。
对于男性，英国和瑞典的健康不平等程度最小，意大利和美国的不平等程度最大。其他国家处于中间位置。女性也呈现出相同的国际模式，只是荷兰女性的不平等程度相对较小。
研究结果在很大程度上与先前的比较研究结果一致。此处观察到的国际模式可能部分与自我报告健康状况的“主观”方面有关，例如抱怨倾向和患病行为。这些结果对英国疾病和残疾分布比瑞典等国家更不平等的观点提出了挑战。
