Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32372334›Full record

ArticleDemography2020

When Did the Health Gradient Emerge? Social Class and Adult Mortality in Southern Sweden, 1813-2015.

Tommy Bengtsson, Martin Dribe, Jonas Helgertz

Abstract readHistorical Article
In one paragraph

Article in Demography, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
16citing 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

16 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. The rising income gradient in life expectancy in Sweden over six decades.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
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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

3 authors.

Tommy BengtssonCentre for Economic Demography, Department of Economic History, Lund University, Lund, Sweden. Tommy.Bengtsson@ekh.lu.se.
Martin DribeCentre for Economic Demography, Department of Economic History, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
Jonas HelgertzCentre for Economic Demography, Department of Economic History, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.

Funding

Minnesota Population Center Science and Technical CoreP2CHD041023 · NICHD · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · PI THERESA LOUISE OSYPUK · 2016 to 2026
$4.3M
NICHD NIH HHS P2C HD041023
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Across today's developed world, there is a clear mortality gradient by socioeconomic status for all ages. It is often taken for granted that this gradient was as strong-or even stronger-in the past when social transfers were rudimentary and health care systems were less developed. Some studies based on cross-sectional data have supported this view, but others based on longitudinal data found that this was not the case. If there was no gradient in the past, when did it emerge? To answer this question, we examine social class differences in adult mortality for men and women in southern Sweden over a 200-year period, using unique individual-level register data. We find a systematic class gradient in adult mortality emerging at ages 30-59 only after 1950 for women and after 1970 for men, and in subsequent periods also observable for ages 60-89. Given that the mortality gradient emerged when Sweden transitioned into a modern welfare state with substantial social transfers and a universal health care system, this finding points to lifestyle and psychosocial factors as likely determinants.

Indexed as

AdultAgedAged, 80 and overAge DistributionCross-Sectional StudiesFemaleHealth BehaviorHistory, 19th CenturyHistory, 20th CenturyHistory, 21st CenturyHumansLife StyleLongitudinal StudiesMaleMiddle AgedMortalityAdult mortalityClass gradientMortality differencesSwedenTwentieth century

Identifiers

PMID32372334
PMCPMC7329755

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LicenceCC BY
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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.