[Social inequalities in the occurrence of chronic diseases]

The risks of the occurrence of most chronic diseases are unequally distributed. The highest risks occur in men and women with the lowest incomes, the lowest educational qualifications, and in occupations with the lowest decision latitude. Education, occupational position, and income as indicators of socio-economic position differ with regard to their latent content and can thus not be considered to be interchangeable. The relative magnitudes of their effects differ according to the diseases considered, but all three are not available in all studies. After an explanation of the latent content of the most frequently used indicators of social differentiation, health inequalities are considered by using four groups of chronic illnesses: oral, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancers. The description is not designed to be an exhaustive assessment of the available empirical findings, but rather a representative presentation of the results and the explanatory value of education, occupation and income.