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Education level inequalities and transportation injury mortality in the middle aged and elderly in European settings
  1. C Borrell1,
  2. A Plasència1,2,
  3. M Huisman3,
  4. G Costa4,
  5. A Kunst3,
  6. O Andersen5,
  7. M Bopp6,
  8. J-K Borgan7,
  9. P Deboosere8,
  10. M Glickman9,
  11. S Gadeyne8,
  12. C Minder10,
  13. E Regidor11,
  14. T Spadea4,
  15. T Valkonen12,
  16. J P Mackenbach3
  1. 1Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
  2. 2Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
  3. 3Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
  4. 4Department of Public Health and Microbiology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
  5. 5Research and Methodology, Statistics Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
  6. 6Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
  7. 7Division for Health Statistics, Statistics Norway, Oslo, Norway
  8. 8Interface Demography, Free University Brussels, Brussels, Belgium
  9. 9Health and Care Division, Office for National Statistics, London, UK
  10. 10Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Switzerland
  11. 11Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
  12. 12Department of Sociology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
  1. Correspondence to:
 Dr C Borrell
 Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona, Pl Lesseps 1, 08023 Barcelona, Spain; cborrellaspb.es

Abstract

Objective: To study the differential distribution of transportation injury mortality by educational level in nine European settings, among people older than 30 years, during the 1990s.

Methods: Deaths of men and women older than 30 years from transportation injuries were studied. Rate differences and rate ratios (RR) between high and low educational level rates were obtained.

Results: Among men, those of low educational level had higher death rates in all settings, a pattern that was maintained in the different settings; no inequalities were found among women. Among men, in all the settings, the RR was higher in the 30–49 age group (RR 1.46, 95% CI 1.32 to 1.61) than in the age groups 50–69 and ⩾70 years, a pattern that was maintained in the different settings. For women for all the settings together, no differences were found among educational levels in the three age groups. In the different settings, only three had a high RR in the youngest age group, Finland (RR 1.33, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.74), Belgium (RR 1.38; 95% CI 1.13 to 1.67), and Austria (RR 1.49, 95% CI 0.75 to 2.96).

Conclusion: This study provides new evidence on the importance of socioeconomic inequalities in transportation injury mortality across Europe. This applies to men, but not to women. Greater attention should be placed on opportunities to select intervention strategies tailored to tackle socioeconomic inequalities in transportation injuries.

  • social inequalities in health
  • transportation injuries
  • mortality

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