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Socio-economic exposures and health

Brief description:

The research in social inequalities in health usually describes the associations between education, occupation or income and health without clear reflections on which parameter to use. There is, however, no single best indicator.

Objective:

The research program aims to reinforce the theoretical considerations included in the decision making behind the choice of socio-economic exposure. Even though each indicator measures different aspects of the social hierarchy it is important to be aware that the indicators cannot serve as proxy for each other. The program specifically aims to raise the awareness that the choice of indicator 1) should be based on grounded hypotheses that a specific indicator serves as proxy for a particular exposure, 2) may depend on the period of life that the exposure relates to, and 3) may have different impacts in different cohorts and sub-groups.

Time-period:

2011-2014

Project description:

Social differences are existent in all societies, but the impact on different health indicators differs over time and populations. In order to understand the etiological mechanisms behind social inequality it is important to investigate whether there is a secular trend in the impact of different exposures and whether this impact differs in different health outcomes.

Data:

The project is based on data from various large cohorts including the SIC-project, the Copenhagen City Heart Study, the Danish Longitudinal Study on Work, Unemployment and Health, the Copenhagen School Health Records and the Metropolit project and the CAMB databases. The data will be merged with the registries available at Statistics Denmark.

Researchers:

Ingelise Andersen, Ulla Christensen, Finn Diderichsen, Karsten Thielen, Laust Mortensen

Collaboration and links:

am Harper, McGill University, , Johan Frizell, Stockholm University, Philip Hessel, London School of Economics, Mauricio Avendano, London School of  Economics, Øyvind Næss, Oslo University & Norwegian Institute of Public Health

Contact persons:

Ingelise Andersen, Ulla Christensen

Publications:

Søndergaard G, Mortensen LH, Madsen M, Andersen PK, Andersen AM, Osler M. Does shared family background influence educational differences in mortality? Am J Epidemiol 2012. In press.

Næss Ø, Hoff DA, Lawlor DA, Mortensen LH. Education and adult cause-specific mortality — examining the impact of family factors shared by 871 367 Norwegian siblings. Int J Epidemiol 2012. In press

Diderichsen F, Andersen I, Manuel C, Andersen AM, Bach E, Baadsgaard M et al. Health inequality- -determinants and policies. Scand J Public Health 2012; 40(8 Suppl):12-105.

Andersen I, Thielen K, Nygaard E, Diderichsen F. Social inequality in the prevalence of depressive disorders. J Epidemiol Community Health 2009; 63(7):575-581.

Andersen I, Gamborg M, Osler M, Prescott E, Diderichsen F. Income as mediator of the effect of occupation on the risk of myocardial infarction: does the income measurement matter? J Epidemiol Community Health 2005; 59(12):1080-1085.