[Morbidity, mortality and social class. Bibliographical review covering differents aspects of pathology, and discussion (author's transl)]

Abstract

A bibliographical review of social differences in morbidity and mortality is presented. The data concerns France, Great Britain and U.S.A., only for recent years, and come from large surveys, health examinations, or morbidity or mortality registers. The social class variable may be the educational level, or a professional classification. Different aspects of mortality and morbidity are examined: cancer, cardio-vascular diseases, respiratory diseases, musculo-skeletal diseases, digestive diseases, obesity and diabetes, accidents, mental illnesses; acute and minor illnesses, and unusual illnesses, are no studied. For almost all the diseases in this review, the risk is greater in the lowest socioeconomic class.