Socioeconomic differences in adolescent health getting wider

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-02/mu-sdi020215.php

Public Release: 3-Feb-2015
McGill University

Health inequalities in young people have grown alongside socioeconomic disparities between the rich and poor.

In a paper published Tuesday in The Lancet, an international team of researchers led by McGill University psychologist Frank Elgar said that rising income inequality in Europe and North America coincides with wider disparities in the mental and physical health of 11- to 15-year-olds.

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"Health inequalities in youths shape future inequities in education, employment, adult health, and life expectancy, and should be a focus of health policy," said Dr. Elgar, of McGill's Institute for Health and Social Policy.

The authors suggest that health policy needs to look beyond average levels of population health and disease prevalence to tackle unjust inequities in health across increasingly disparate socioeconomic conditions.

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