Do health behaviour and psychosocial risk factors explain the European East-West gap in health status?

Background: Mortality rates are much more favourable in Western European co untries than in those of Eastern Europe. Health behaviour and psychosocial factors have been suggested to be important contributors to East-West diffe rences in mortality and health status, Methods: To compare reported health status as well as health behaviours and psychosocial factors which may be r elated to unequal health status in different parts of Europe, standardised postal surveys of representative populations samples were conducted in six Eastern acid Western European areas, Results: Higher mortality in the easte rn populations was associated with more reported morbidity and generally mo re negative health ratings. Health behaviours and psychosocial factors were also more negative in the East. Multivariate analyses suggested that the E ast-West difference in health status may be partly explained by differences in health behaviours and psychosocial factors. Conclusion: Efforts to prom ote health in Eastern Europe should concentrate both on the promotion of he althier lifestyles and on improvement of social and economic conditions.