Cultural values and population health

Variations in 'culture' are often invoked to explain cross-national variations in health, but formal analyses of this relation are scarce. We studied the relation between three sets of cultural values and a wide range of health behaviours and health outcomes in Europe. Cultural values were measured according to Inglehart's two, Hofstede's six, and Schwartz's seven dimensions. Data on individual and collective health behaviours (30 indicators of fertility-related behaviours, adult lifestyles, use of preventive services, prevention policies, health care policies, and environmental policies) and health outcomes (35 indicators of general health and of specific health problems relating to fertility, adult lifestyles, prevention, health care, and violence) in 42 European countries around the year 2010 were extracted from harmonized international data sources. Multivariate regression analysis was used to relate health behaviours to value orientations, controlling for socioeconomic confounders. In univariate analyses, all scales are related to health behaviours and most scales are related to health outcomes, but in multivariate analyses Inglehart[U+05F3]s 'self-expression' (versus 'survival') scale has by far the largest number of statistically significant associations. Countries with higher scores on 'self-expression' have better outcomes on 16 out of 30 health behaviours and on 19 out of 35 health indicators, and variations on this scale explain up to 26% of the variance in these outcomes in Europe. In mediation analyses the associations between cultural values and health outcomes are partly explained by differences in health behaviours. Variations in cultural values also appear to account for some of the striking variations in health behaviours between neighbouring countries in Europe (Sweden and Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and Estonia and Latvia).This study is the first to provide systematic and coherent empirical evidence that differences between European countries in health behaviours and health outcomes may partly be determined by variations in culture. Paradoxically, a shift away from traditional 'survival' values seems to promote behaviours that increase longevity in high income countries

Inequalities in health in the Netherlands according to age, gender, marital status, level of education, degree of urbanization, and region

Inequalities in health have attracted much epidemiological interest Usually, differences in rates of ill-health between the sexes, among socio-economic groups, geographical regions, etc., are quantified separately, so that it remains undear which variables are associated with the largest degree of variation. We analyzed variations in perceived general health, prevalence of chronic conditions, and mortality associated with six sociodemographic characteristics: age, gender, marital status, level of education, degree of urbanization and region. Nationally representative data from the Netherlands were used. The Index of Dissimilarity (the proportion of the number of cases of ill-health in the whole population which has to be redistributed to achieve complete equality) was used to summarize the degree of variation in these health measures. Age was associated with the highest degree of variation in all three health measures. The rank order of the other background characteristics differed slightiy among health measures, but on the whole gender, marital status and level of education appeared to be of equal importance. Degree of urbanization and region were less important, although not negligible. Improvements in the health status of groups having high rates of health problems could contribute substantially to further reduction of the burden of ill-health in the population as a whole. The results of this analysis suggest that such interventions should not be limited to one dimension of inequality only, and that, at least in the Netherlands, inequalities by gender, marital status and level of education deserve equal attention from health policy makers. Examples of specific factors and mechanisms involved in these inequalities are given, and possible strategies for reduction of these inequalities are discussed

Convergence and divergence of life expectancy in Europe: A centennial view

It has been noted that national life expectancies have diverged in Europe in recent decades, but it is unknown how these recent trends compare to longer term developments. Data on life expectancy, cause-specific mortality and determinants of mortality were extracted from harmonized international data-bases. Variation was quantified with the inter-quartile range, and the contribution of changing economic conditions was analyzed by comparing observed life expectancy variations with those expected on the basis of changes in levels of national income and/or changes in the relation between national income and life expectancy. During the first decades of the 20th century, variation in life expectancy in Europe increased to reach peak values around 1920, then decreased to reach its lowest values in 1960 (among men) and 1970 (among women), and finally increased strongly again. The first widening was due to less rapid decline in mortality in Southern and Central and Eastern Europe, particularly from infectious diseases, and coincided with an increasing strength of the national income - life expectancy relation. The second widening was due to stagnating or increasing mortality in Central and Eastern Europe, particularly from cardiovascular diseases, and coincided with a very strong rise of between-country differences in national income. Despite some similarities, differences between both episodes of widening differences in life expectancy cast doubt on the idea that the current episode of widening represents a simple delay of epidemiological transitions. Instead, it is an alarming phenomenon that should be a main focus of European policy making

Socio-economic health differences in the Netherlands: A review of recent empirical findings

__Abstract__ Evidence on variation in the frequency of health problems between socio-economic groups in the Dutch population has accumulated rapidly in recent years. This paper presents a review of these recent data. It is clear now that a lower socio-economic status is associated with a higher frequency of a wide range of health problems. This negative association has consistently been found for the following health indicators: birth weight; adult body height; prevalence of health complaints; prevalence of many chronic conditions; prevalence of disability; incidence of long-term work incapacity; perceived general health; adult mortality. Inconsistent findings were reported for: children's body height; prevalence of some chronic conditions; incidence of sickness absence (short-term work incapacity); perinatal mortality. The magnitude of the differences varies from study to study, and possibly from health problem to health problem. In studies categorizing the study population in 3–6 hierarchically ordered socio-economic groups on the basis of either education or occupational status, the Relative Risks (of the lowest versus the highest socio-economic group) mostly lie between 1 and 2. Exceptions are prevalence of disability and incidence of long-term work incapacity where Relative Risks between 2 and 4 have been found. A direct comparison with data from other countries is problematic, but at first sight the differences as observed in the Netherlands seem to be of the same order of magnitude as those observed in other industrialized countries. Although most Relative Risks imply ‘weak associations’ from a technical-epidemiological point of view, the Population Attributable Risks are substantial (generally between 0.25 and 0.40), underlining the public health impact of socio-economic health differences. Information on trends in health inequalities over time is limited to children's body height and adult mortality. For children's body height a substantial decrease of inequalities was found between 1964–1966 and 1980. For adult mortality, on the other hand, there is (indirect) evidence of a widening of the mortality gap between the 1950s and the 1980s. The evidence on specific factors which are involved in the ‘causal chain’ between socio-economic status and health problems is rather limited at the moment. A negative association with socio-economic status has been reported for the following risk factors: smoking; obesity; a number of unfavourable material living conditions; a number of unfavourable physical working conditions; psychosocial stress; lack of social support; less adequate supply/use of health care. On the other hand, study results have not shown a higher prevalence in the lower socio-economic groups for: high alcohol consumption; high blood pressure; high serum cholesterol. Some unfavourable food habits (e.g. a high fat intake) are more common in lower socio-economic groups, but others are not (e.g. high intake of poly-unsaturated fatty acids). The paper ends with a number of recommendations for further descriptive and explanatory studies