From: The impact of economic crises on social inequalities in health: what do we know so far?
Crisis | Country | Study period | Reference | Main health variable | Main socioeconomic variable | Analyses by sex | Main results |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Great recession | United Kingdom | 2006-2010 | Astell-Burt & Feng [12] | Limiting long-standing illness | Working status | No | Inequalities in limiting long-standing illness decreased from 2008 |
United Kingdom | 2004-2010 | Harhay et al. [14] | Binge drinking | Working status; Income | No | The beginning of the crisis entailed an elevated risk of binge drinking among the unemployed. Income-related inequalities did not increase | |
United Kingdom | 1991-2010 | Katikireddi et al. [32] | Mental health (GHQ-12) | Educational level; deprivation level | Yes | Inequalities in mental health were already increasing before 2008 | |
Spain | 2006-2012 | Rajmil et al. [15] | Obesity; Health behaviours; Mental health; Heath-related quality of life | Mothers’ educational level; Family’s working status | No | Inequalities in obesity among children did not change while inequalities in health-related quality of life increased | |
Spain | 2006-2010 | Gili et al. [11] | Mental health | Educational level; Working status | No | Excepting the decrease of working status related inequalities in dysthymia, inequalities increased in all other mental health indicators | |
Spain | 2001-2011 | Juárez et al. [27] | Perinatal health | Mothers’ educational level | Only women | Inequalities increased in macrosomia and in post-term births and did not increase in low birthweight and pre-term births | |
Spain | 2006-2012 | Bartoll et al. [24] | Mental health (GHQ-12) | Social class; Educational level | Yes | Inequalities increased only in men | |
Nordic crisis | Finland | 1981-1995 | Valkonen et al. [20] | Total and cause-specific mortality | Social class | Yes | Inequalities were already increasing before the crisis, and continued growing afterwards |
Finland | 1986-1994 | Lahelma et al. [18] | Limiting long-standing illness; Self-perceived health | Educational level; Working status | Yes | Inequalities decreased in men (especially regarding limiting long-standing illness), and remained stable in women | |
Finland | 1993-2002 | Lammintausta et al. [21] | Incidence and mortality for coronary disease | Income | Yes | Inequalities did not change during the period | |
Sweden | 1986-1995 | Lundberg et al. [22] | Self-perceived health; Limiting long-standing illness | Social class; Educational level; Working status | Yes | Inequalities did not change during the period | |
Nordic countries | 1986-1995 | Lahelma et al. [19] | Self-perceived health; Limiting long-standing illness | Working status; Educational level | Yes | Inequalities slightly decreased in men and did not change in women | |
Soviet Union crisis | Russia | 1980-2001 | Murphy et al. [28] | Life expectancy and mortality | Educational level | Yes | Inequalities in life expectancy increased especially among men since 1990 |
Russia | 1975-1998 | Plavinski et al. [16] | Total and cause-specific mortality | Educational level | No | Inequalities increased during the 90s | |
Southeast Asian and Japanese crises | Japan | 1955-2000 | Fukuda et al. [13] | Life expectancy and mortality | Income | Yes | Absolute inequalities decreased from 1970 to 1995 while increased afterwards |
Japan | 1986-2001 | Kondo et al. [25] | Self-perceived health | Income; Social class | Yes | Inequalities did not change or slightly decreased in the population aged 40–60. In men, relative inequalities increased between middle-class non-manual and highest class workers | |
Japan | 1986-2007 | Kachi et al. [23] | Self-perceived health | Income | Yes | After 1998, inequalities decreased because poor self-perceived health increased more among the highest income groups | |
Korea | 1993-2005 | Son et al. [28] | Life expectancy and mortality | Educational level | Yes | Absolute inequalities in life expectancy at age 40 increased especially in men. Inequalities in mortality increased in the population aged 40-55 | |
Korea | 1995-2006 | Kim et al. [31] | Self-perceived health | Social class; Working status | Yes | Working status inequalities increased in all social classes. Among non-professionals, inequalities increased especially in women | |
Korea | 1998-2007 | Hong et al. [17] | Depression; Suicidal behaviour | Income | No | Inequalities doubled in the period | |
Korea | 1989-2000 | Khang et al. [26] | All-cause mortality; Self-perceived health | Educational level | Yes | In men, inequalities in mortality remained stable while inequalities in self-perceived health increased in both sexes | |
Korea | 1995-2005 | Shim & Cho [30] | Alcohol-attributable mortality | Educational level; Social class | Only men | Inequalities increased in the period |