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Trends in socioeconomic inequalities in behavioural non-communicable disease risk factors: analysis of repeated cross-sectional health surveys in England between 2003 and 2019

Ogunlayi, F; Coleman, PC; Fat, LN; Mindell, JS; Oyebode, O; (2023) Trends in socioeconomic inequalities in behavioural non-communicable disease risk factors: analysis of repeated cross-sectional health surveys in England between 2003 and 2019. BMC Public Health , 23 (1) , Article 1442. 10.1186/s12889-023-16275-6. Green open access

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Abstract

Background: Previous studies have shown that those in lower socioeconomic positions (SEPs) generally have higher levels of behavioural non-communicable disease (NCD) risk factors. However, there are limited studies examining recent trends in inequalities. This study examined trends in socioeconomic inequalities in NCD behavioural risk factors and their co-occurrence in England from 2003–19. Methods: This time-trend analysis of repeated cross-sectional data from the Health Survey for England examined the relative index of inequalities (RII) and slope index of inequalities (SII) in four NCD behavioural risk factors: smoking; drinking above recommended limits; insufficient fruit and vegetables consumption; and physical inactivity. Findings: Prevalence of risk factors has reduced over time, however, this has not been consistent across SEPs. Absolute and relative inequalities increased for physical inactivity; relative inequalities also increased for smoking; for insufficient fruit and vegetable consumption, the trends in inequalities depended on SEPs measure. Those in lower SEPs experienced persistent socioeconomic inequalities and clustering of behavioural risk factors. In contrast, those in higher SEPs had higher prevalence of excessive alcohol consumption; this inequality widened over the study period. Interpretation: Inequalities in smoking and physical inactivity are persisting or widening. The pattern of higher drinking in higher SEPs obscure the fact that the greatest burden of alcohol-related harm falls on lower SEPs. Policy attention is required to tackle increasing inequalities in smoking prevalence, low fruit and vegetable consumption and physical inactivity, and to reduce alcohol harm.

Type: Article
Title: Trends in socioeconomic inequalities in behavioural non-communicable disease risk factors: analysis of repeated cross-sectional health surveys in England between 2003 and 2019
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1186/s12889-023-16275-6
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-16275-6
Language: English
Additional information: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
Keywords: England, Health inequalities, Health policy, Healthcare disparities, Public health, Humans, Socioeconomic Factors, Noncommunicable Diseases, Cross-Sectional Studies, Risk Factors, Health Surveys, Vegetables, Health Status Disparities
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Epidemiology and Public Health
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10174875
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