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The European Journal of Public Health Advance Access originally published online on October 5, 2005
The European Journal of Public Health 2006 16(4):354-360; doi:10.1093/eurpub/cki200
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

Health Inequalities

Household income and health status in children and adolescents in Britain

Eric Emerson1, Hilary Graham2 and Chris Hatton3

1 Professor of Disability and Health Research, Institute for Health Research, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
2 Professor of Social Policy, Institute for Health Research, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
3 Professor of Psychology of Health and Social Care, Institute for Health Research, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK

Correspondence: Professor Eric Emerson, Institute for Health Research, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YT, UK, tel: +44 01524 592260, fax: +44 01524 592406, e-mail: eric.emerson{at}lancaster.ac.uk

Background: Mortality, health, and well-being across the lifespan are associated with socioeconomic position (typically operationalised as occupational status). There is some evidence that adolescence represents a period of ‘relative equalisation’ of health inequalities. Our aim was to examine the association between inequalities in household income and health in childhood and adolescence. Methods: Cross-sectional survey using multistage stratified random sample of households in Britain. Information was collected on 10438 children aged 5–15 years. Results: Low levels of equivalised household income was associated with poorer health for 13 out of the 22 indicators examined (odds ratio P < 0.05 for ≥1 income quintile). Multivariate analyses controlling for child characteristics, parental socioeconomic status and household composition indicated that low levels of equivalised household income increased the odds of poor health for 9 out of the 22 indicators examined. There was little evidence of any systematic differences in the extent of health inequalities across age groups (5–10 and 11–15 years). Conclusion: Household income is related to a range of health outcomes for children and adolescents, even when other indicators of socioeconomic status are taken into account. We found little evidence that adolescence represents a period of relative equalisation of health inequalities.

Keywords: adolescents, children, disability, health inequalities


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