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Time Trends in Inequalities in Health

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Roy A. Carr-Hill
Roy A. Carr-Hill
Affiliation:
Centre for Health Economics, University of York
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Summary

The conventional belief since the publication of the Black Report is that social inequalities in health have been increasing since 1931–32 although it has been argued that the measure of inequality used is inappropriate. All analyses have been based on mortality rates which, in large part, reflect inequalities in health over the previous 50 years and not current trends. This paper argues that time trends should be assessed with a current health status measure and suggests using height at age 20 as a good measure of the achieved health status of a group. Analysis of a government survey shows that inequalities have stayed the same since 1940, both for men classified by their own occupation and for women classified by their father's occupation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , July 1988 , pp. 265 - 274
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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