Plain English Summary
Background:
Why are some groups healthier than others, or are less affected by certain diseases? This research aims to delve into these health inequalities, covering both physical and mental health, comparing different ethnic groups. Importantly, we want to find out whether any differences we might observe between different ethnic groups is explained by differences in things like their income or educational background, rather than ethnicity directly. This is important because, whilst government makes the reduction of health inequalities a very high priority, designing policies to achieve this requires us to understand the reasons for any differences.
We have done some work on this issue in adults already. The new work extends the analysis. We're looking at how the area they live in, and their family's situation, play a role. For immigrant groups, we want to know how factors like language and how long they’ve lived in Britain affect their health.
Aims and Objectives:
Measure health differences among children and adults based on ethnicity and socioeconomic status.
Examine how ethnicity is influenced by factors like language and time since immigration.
Differentiate the impact of deprivation at the family and neighbourhood levels.
Methods:
Importantly, the proposed study will also extend the analysis to consider children. We’ll examine whether their ethnicity and their parents’ income, education, etc affect their health. We’ll measure children’s health in different ways including both mental and physical health, and also health behaviour (e.g. attitudes to smoking, drinking, drug abuse). We want to predict what the lifelong consequences may be of these health inequalities in early life. To do this, we're using a large research survey (called “Understanding Society") that follows the same individuals and families over many years, asking questions about different parts of their lives like health, jobs, income, education and housing. Because it collects information from the same people over time, it helps researchers like us see how things change. The study involves a lot of people from different backgrounds, so we can understand what life is like for many different types of individuals and families.
A significant limitation is that there is no link between the data in the Understanding Society survey and official records of deaths. Because of this, the survey misses some cases of ill-health leading to death. We’ll try to understand how the results of our research might be affected by this.
Policy relevance & dissemination:
DHSC and related bodies, particularly the Office for Health Inequalities and Disparities, make policy where the reduction of health inequalities is either a key aim or must, at least, be considered. This work will provide information to help shape those policies.