M. Shaw et al., Widening inequality in mortality between 160 regions of 15 European countries in the early 1990s, SOCIAL SC M, 50(7-8), 2000, pp. 1047-1058
This paper presents maps of geographical patterns in mortality for the 160
mainland regions of the 15 countries of the European Union. Standardised mo
rtality ratios (SMRs) for all ages are presented for all causes of death an
d for lung cancer, ischaemic heart disease, road traffic accidents and suic
ide. All cause standardised mortality ratios (for deaths under the age of 6
5) for the years 1990 and 1994 are presented. These data show that while mo
st regions of Europe had decreasing SMRs over this time period, SMRs increa
sed for the 10% of the population with the highest SMRs and the gap between
the most and least healthy regions grew. Possible:reasons for the observed
patterns, the limitations of currently available data and the limitations
of studying nation states, are suggested. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. Al
l rights reserved.