FYI - new paper in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health that
may be of interest
Best wishes
David McDaid
LSE Health and Social Care
Gender, health inequalities and welfare state regimes: a cross-national
study of 13 European countries
C Bambra, D Pope, V Swami, D Stanistreet, A Roskam, A Kunst, and A
Scott-Samuel
J Epidemiol Community Health 2009;63 38-44
http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/63/1/38?etoc
Background: This study is the first to examine the relationship between
gender and self-assessed health (SAH), and the extent to which this
varies by socioeconomic position in different European welfare state
regimes (Liberal, Corporatist, Social Democratic, Southern).
Methods: The EUROTHINE harmonised data set (based on representative
cross-sectional national health surveys conducted between 1998 and 2004)
was used to analyse SAH differences by gender and socioeconomic position
(educational rank) in different welfare states. The sample sizes ranged
from 7124 (Germany) to 118 245 (Italy) and concerned the adult
population (aged 16 years).
Results: Logistic regression analysis (adjusting for age) identified
significant gender differences in SAH in nine European welfare states.
In the UK (OR 0.88; 95% CI 0.78 to 0.99) and Finland (OR 0.85; 95% CI
0.77 to 0.95), men were significantly more likely to report "bad" or
"very bad" health. In Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Holland, Italy, Spain and
Portugal, a significantly higher proportion of women than men reported
that their health was "bad" or "very bad". The increased risk of poor
SAH experienced by women from these countries ranged from a 23% increase
in Denmark (OR 1.23; 95% CI 1.08 to 1.39) to more than a twofold
increase in Portugal (OR 2.01; 95% CI 1.87 to 2.15). For some countries
(Italy, Portugal, Sweden), women's relatively worse SAH tended to be
most prominent in the group with the highest level of education.
Discussion: Women in the Social Democratic and Southern welfare states
were more likely to report worse SAH than men. In the Corporatist
countries, there were no gender differences in SAH. There was no
consistent welfare state regime patterning for gender differences in SAH
by socioeconomic position. These findings constitute a challenge to
regime theory and comparative social epidemiology to engage more with
issues of gender.
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