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. 2024 Jan-Dec:61:469580241237113.
doi: 10.1177/00469580241237113.

Socioeconomic Disparities in Neurodegenerative Disease Mortality: A Population-Based Study among Belgian Men and Women Aged 65 or Older

Janna Dinneweth  1 , Sylvie Gadeyne  1
Affiliations

Socioeconomic Disparities in Neurodegenerative Disease Mortality: A Population-Based Study among Belgian Men and Women Aged 65 or Older

Janna Dinneweth et al. Inquiry. 2024 Jan-Dec.

Abstract

This study investigates the association between socioeconomic position (SEP) - in terms of income and education - and mortality from neurodegenerative diseases, that is, dementia, parkinsonism, and motor neuron diseases (MNDs). We calculated age-standardized mortality rates and mortality rate ratios using log linear Poisson regression for different SEP groups, stratified by gender, age-group, and care home residency, utilizing the 2011 Belgian census linked to register data on cause-specific mortality for 2011 to 2016. Mortality was significantly higher in the lowest educational- and income groups. The largest disparities were found in dementia mortality. Income had a strong negative effect on parkinsonism mortality, education a positive effect. We found no significant association between SEP and MND. Our study provides evidence supporting the presence of socioeconomic disparities in mortality due to neurodegeneration. We found a strong negative association between SEP and NDD mortality, which varies between NDD, gender and care home residency.

Keywords: care homes; dementia; mortality inequality; motor neuron disease; neurodegenerative diseases; parkinsonism; socioeconomic position.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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