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[Inequalities in health according to social class in Catalonia, 1994]
E Fernández1, A Schiaffino, L Rajmil
1Institut Universitari de Salut Pública de Catalunya, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona. efernandez@bell.ub.es
Objective:
To study social inequalities in health in Catalonia.
Design:
Cross-sectional survey of a representative sample of the population of Catalonia, Spain (Catalan Health Interview Survey, 1994).
Participants:
Responses from 5641 males and 6604 women aged 15 years or over were included for analysis.
Measurements And Main Results:
We analysed the information about self-perceived health, restriction of activity, and presence of chronic conditions according to social class by means of logistic regression models. The proportion of subjects that rated their health as fair or poor was higher in social classes IV-V than in classes I-II (men: 25.0% vs. 14.5%; OR, 1.8, 95% CI, 1.5-2.3; women: 34.4% vs. 21.5%; OR, 1.7, 95% CI, 1.4-2.1). There were differences by social class in respect to restriction of activity and presence of chronic conditions.
Conclusions:
Despite the decrease of social inequalities in accesibility and use of health services due to the universalisation of health coverage, differences by social class remain in the perception of health status. These inequalities should be addressed by the health system within the framework of broad public and social policies.