‘Poor were in better health a century ago’

RESEARCH: Poor people in Britain have worse health than people born a century ago, research suggests.

The health gap between the least and most well-off in society is widening and may increase pressure on care for vulnerable older people in the future, University College London found.

POOR PEOPLE in Britain have worse health than people born a century ago, research suggests.

The health gap between the least and most well-off in society is widening and may increase pressure on care for vulnerable older people in the future, University College London found.

The authors asked if “baby boomers” born after 1945 rated their health as better or worse than those born in the early 1920s, according to household income.

More than 200,000 workingage people in England, Wales and Scotland were asked if they had a limiting long-term illness and to rate their overall health as part of the General Household Survey for 1979-2011.

The study analysed their responses to create nationally representative three-year health snapshots of the generations born between 1920-22 and 196870.

Overall, self-reported health outcomes remained constant between the two, with the exception of limiting long-term illness in men, which showed a statistically significant downward trend.

But the gaps between the richest and poorest households widened over time, with inequalities in the prevalence of long-term conditions doubling among women and by 1.5 times among men, the study showed.

Around a quarter (26 per cent) of men born in 1920-22, with the lowest household incomes, said they had a limiting illness compared to one in six (16 per cent) in the richest households.

For those born in 1968-70, more than a third (35 per cent) of the men in the poorest households reported a limiting illness, compared to just 11 per cent of those living in the richest households.

Around one in seven women (15 per cent) born in 1920-22 and living in the poorest households said their health was “not good”, compared with 8 per cent in the richest households.

This had risen to around a fifth of women (20 per cent) born in 1968-70 and living in the poorest households, while the proportion claiming their health was “not good” in the richest households remained similar, at 9 per cent.

The research suggests the gap in early deaths will further widen due to the links between poor self-rated health and long-term conditions, sickness and death.

The author, Dr Stephen Jivraj, of the university’s Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, said the gaps could be due to increased income inequality, leading to increased marginalisation of the poorest in society.

Another possible explanation could be that people born later during the period have greater expectations of their own health and may be more likely to selfdefine as having poorer health because they know treatment is accessible.