[Swedish public health report 1991. Increasing social consequences of illness?]

According to the Swedish Public Health Report of 1991, health has improved in the 45-64-year-old age group of the gainfully employed population during the 1980s. Cardiopulmonary and gastrointestinal diseases have become less common, whereas certain types of cancer, allergy, and locomotor pain are on the increase. The prevalence of locomotor pain among young working women has doubled. The number of those on early pensions is increasing, which may be due to increasing demands in the working environment as well as to organisational re-structuring. The report points out that the chronically ill and those on disability pensions are finding it harder to compete in the housing market. A medical class distinction is made: those with long-term mental illness have a much worse standard of living than those with somatic diseases.