Health inequalities in Germany: do regional-level variables explain differentials in cardiovascular risk?

ABSTRACT:

Background

Socioeconomic status is a predictor not only of mortality, but also of cardiovascular risk and morbidity. An ongoing debate in the field of social inequalities and health focuses on two questions: 1) Is individual health status associated with individual income as well as with income inequality at the aggregate (e. g. regional) level? 2) If there is such an association, does it operate via a psychosocial pathway (e.g. stress) or via a "neo-materialistic" pathway (e.g. systematic under-investment in societal infrastructures)? For the first time in Germany, we here investigate the association between cardiovascular health status and income inequality at the area level, controlling for individual socio-economic status.

Methods

Individual-level explanatory variables (

SUBMITTER: Breckenkamp J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1934354 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature