In order to assess the impact of medical care innovations on post-1950 mortality in The Netherlands, we analysed trends in mortality from a selection of conditions suggested by Rutstein et al.'s lists of "unnecessary untimely mortality". This selection covers 11 types of innovation, and includes...

There is some evidence on socioeconomic inequality in morbidity among elderly people, but this evidence remains fragmentary. This study aims to give a comprehensive overview of educational and income inequalities in morbidity among the elderly of eleven European countries. Data from the first...

In order to investigate the contribution of medical care to the widening of mortality differences between socio-economic groups, we studied differences in the decline of mortality from conditions which have become amenable to medical intervention. For England and Wales, data on occupational...

Comparisons among countries can help to identify opportunities for the reduction of inequalities in health. We compared the magnitude of inequalities in mortality and self-assessed health among 22 countries in all parts of Europe.

Mortality levels of national populations have often been studied in relation to levels of gross domestic product (GDP) at time of death. Following the life course perspective, we assessed whether old-age mortality levels for subsequent cohorts are differentially associated with GDP levels...

Large differences in ever-smoking rates among women are found between countries and socio-economic groups. This study examined the socio-economic inequalities in female ever-smoking rates in 19 European countries, and explored the association between cross-national differences in these...

This study compares eleven countries with respect to the magnitude of mortality differences by occupational class, paying particular attention to problems with the reliability and comparability of the data that are available for different countries. Nationally representative data on mortality by...

In this paper we review the available summary measures for the magnitude of socio-economic inequalities in health. Measures which have been used differ in a number of important respects, including (1) the measurement of "relative" or "absolute" differences; (2) the measurement of an "effect" of...

Studies on health inequalities have usually focused either on mortality or on morbidity. This concerns national studies as well as international comparisons of health inequalities. This paper seeks to bridge the gap by applying health expectancy as a synthetic overall measure of health. The...