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Table 1 Studies about the effect of economic crises on social inequalities in health

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