Evidence map›Paper›PMID 17108308›Full record

ArticleJournal of epidemiology and community health2006

Measuring inequalities in health: the case for healthy life expectancy.

Rachael Wood, Matt Sutton, David Clark, Amy McKeon, Marion Bain

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of epidemiology and community health, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
22citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

22 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. The Apparent Discrepancy Between Social Inequality in Disability-Free and Quality-Adjusted Life Expectancy.Value in health : the journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research · 2026
    Article
  3. Article
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  7. Inequalities in health-related quality of life: repeated cross-sectional study of trends in general practice survey data.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2021
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. The methods and materials of health expectancy.Statistical journal of the IAOS · 2014
    Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Flexibility in reproductive timing in human females: integrating ultimate and proximate explanations.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2011
    Article
  19. Diabetes and its impact on health-related quality of life: a life table analysis.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2010
    Article
  20. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Rachael WoodCentre for International Public Health Policy, School of Health in Social Science, University of Edinburgh, Medical Quad, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, Scotland, UK. rachael.wood@ed.ac.uk
Matt Sutton
David Clark
Amy McKeon
Marion Bain

Funding

Chief Scientist Office HERU1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo evaluate healthy life expectancy (HLE) as a measure of health inequalities by comparing geographical and area-based deprivation-related inequalities in healthy and total life expectancy (TLE).

designLife table analysis based on ecological cross-sectional data. SETTING AND POPULATION: Council area quarters and postcode sector-based deprivation fifths in Scotland.

main outcome measuresExpectation of life in good self-assessed general health, or free from limiting long-term illness, and TLE, for females and males at birth.

resultsWomen in Scotland have a life expectation of 70.3 years in good health, 61.6 years free from limiting long-term illness, and a TLE of 78.9 years. Comparable figures for men are 66.3, 58.6 and 73.5 years. TLE and HLE decrease with increasing area deprivation. Differences are substantially wider for HLE. A 4.7-year difference is seen in TLE between women living in the most and least deprived fifth of areas. The difference in HLE is 10.7 years in good health and 11.6 years free from limiting long-term illness. The degree of deprivation-related inequality in HLE is 2.5 times wider for women and 1.8 times wider for men than in TLE.

conclusionsDifferences in TLE underestimate health inequalities substantially. By including morbidity and mortality, HLE reflects the excess burden of ill health experienced by disadvantaged populations better. Inequalities in length of life and health status during life should be taken into account while monitoring inequalities in population health.

Indexed as

Attitude to HealthHealth StatusLife ExpectancyQuality of LifeAdolescentAdultAgedAged, 80 and overAge FactorsChildChild, PreschoolDeath CertificatesFemaleHumansInfantInfant, Newborn

Identifiers

PMID17108308
PMCPMC2465513

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.