Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Dec 31;13(12):e0209659.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0209659. eCollection 2018.

The impact of health on economic and social outcomes in the United Kingdom: A scoping literature review

Dawid Gondek  1 , Ke Ning  1 , George B Ploubidis  1 , Bilal Nasim  2 , Alissa Goodman  1
Affiliations

The impact of health on economic and social outcomes in the United Kingdom: A scoping literature review

Dawid Gondek et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

This is the first review of the evidence, based on longitudinal studies in the United Kingdom, on the association of ill health at any life stage and later social and economic outcomes. The review included a wide range of physical and mental health exposures, both self-reported and objectively measured, as well as social (e.g. life satisfaction) and economic (e.g. employment) outcomes. We searched the Web of Science, key longitudinal datasets based in the UK, major economic journals, Google Scholar and reference lists of relevant publications. The review includes 80 studies. There was strong evidence for the association between early mental health, mainly attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and lifetime educational, occupational and various social outcomes. Also, both poor physical and mental health in early and middle adulthood, tended to be associated with unemployment and lower socioeconomic status. Among older adults, the evidence quite consistently indicated an association between mental health, chronic conditions, disability/functional limitations, self-rated general health and quality of life, life satisfaction and early retirement. Overall, mental health was consistently found to be associated with a range of social and economic outcomes throughout the lifespan. The evidence for the association between physical health and later outcomes is more inconsistent. A number of methodological challenges need to be addressed, particularly related to causal inference, to produce robust evidence with potential to inform public health policy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Flow diagram of study selection.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bloom DE, Cafiero ET, Jané-Llopis E, Abrahams-Gessel S, Bloom LR, Fathima S., Feigl AB, et al. The Global Economic Burden of Non-communicable Diseases. Geneva: World Economic Forum, 2011.
    1. Murray CJ, Richards MA, Newton JN, Fenton KA, Anderson HR, Atkinson C, et al. UK health performance: findings of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. Lancet. 2013;381(9871):997–1020. Epub 2013/05/15. 10.1016/S0140-6736(13)60355-4 . - DOI - PubMed
    1. Currie J. Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: Socioeconomic Status, Poor Health in Childhood, and Human Capital Development. J Econ Lit. 2008;47(1):87–122. 10.1257/jel.47.1.87 PubMed PMID: WOS:000264807200003. - DOI
    1. Suhrcke M, de Paz Nieves C. The impact of health and health behaviours on educational outcomes in highincome countries: a review of the evidence. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2011.
    1. Marmot M, UCL Institute for Health Equity. Review of social determinants and the health divide in the WHO European Region. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2013.

Publication types