Social inequalities in health

Today, the links between poverty and health are well-established (Phipps, 2003) and the resulting inequalities in health have proven to be persistent (Whitehead & Dahlgren, 2007). Indeed, the population groups with the worst health status are materially underprivileged and socially excluded (De Koninck et al., 2008), leading many analysts to single out poverty as one of the primary determinants of health.

In 2002, the Government of Québec adopted An Act to Combat Poverty and…

Today, the links between poverty and health are well-established (Phipps, 2003) and the resulting inequalities in health have proven to be persistent (Whitehead & Dahlgren, 2007). Indeed, the population groups with the worst health status are materially underprivileged and socially excluded (De Koninck et al., 2008), leading many analysts to single out poverty as one of the primary determinants of health.

In 2002, the Government of Québec passed An Act to Combat Poverty and…

Since its creation in the late 1990s, the Québec index of material and social deprivation has been widely utilized in the field of public health for purposes that range from health monitoring and policy development to evaluation of services and resource allocation. More recently, a Canadian version of the index has been produced and used at that level.

There are provincial, regional, and local versions of the Québec index. Four revisions have been made over the years, in conjunction…

Premature mortality caused by cancer and the public health challenge it represents have given rise to a myriad of studies on the contribution of material and social living conditions to varying risks of morbidity and mortality. Thus, European and American studies have shown that cancer mortality—and some cancers more than others—often hits disadvantaged socioeconomic groups and regions hardest, and that this relationship persists even when individual behavior is taken into account. Numerous…

Studies show a relationship between social inequality and intentional and unintentional trauma (Marmot et al., 1999; Leclerc et al., 2000). This relationship is poorly understood in Quebec, however, since data on trauma is derived primarily from administrative files (for death and hospitalization), which contain no information on the socioeconomic status of trauma victims.

The recent development of a deprivation index that can be used with these files enables us to at least partially…