SynthesisSocial psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology2022
The association between income inequality and adult mental health at the subnational level-a systematic review.
Synthesis in Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 51 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
51 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Causal Assessment of Income Inequality on Self-Rated Health and All-Cause Mortality: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.The Milbank quarterly · 2024Pooled it
- The association between income inequality and adult mental health at the subnational level-a systematic review.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2022Pooled it
- Mental healthcare expenditure in the Netherlands by urbanicity and neighbourhood socioeconomic status and interactions with age over the period 2015-2020.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2026Article
- Psychological distress and trust in healthcare: individual perceptions and national contexts - a multilevel analysis.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Understanding the mechanistic links between neurodevelopmental traits and internalising problems: the mediating roles of intolerance of uncertainty and negative problem orientation.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Real-world comprehensive care of people living with schizophrenia: recommendations across different settings and clinical stages.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2026Article
- Neurodiversity and mental health in adulthood: exploring the unique contributions of autism and ADHD to internalising problems.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Depression prevalence estimates in Spain (1995-2021): a systematic review.Open medicine (Warsaw, Poland) · 2026Review
- Perception of family relationships and depressive symptoms in older adults in Loja, Ecuador: an analytical cross-sectional study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Observational
- Area socioeconomic inequality and suicide mortality: contrasting common measures using National Violent Death Reporting System and linked administrative data.American journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Maternal Depression Mediated the Association Between Moderate Income Inequality and Physical Aggression in Five Year Old Children.Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry = Journal de l'Academie canadienne de psychiatrie de l'enfant et de l'adolescent · 2025Article
- Urban mental health: a position paper of the European psychiatric association.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2025Review
- Association between self-reported vision and mental well-being: a cross-sectional secondary analysis of Health Survey for England data.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Review
- Understanding the Effect of Financial Behaviour on Mental Health: Evidence From Australia.Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress · 2025Article
- Prevalence of anxiety disorders in Latin America: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2025Article
- Economic inequality, intergenerational mobility, and life expectancy.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2025Article
- Measurement of Dehumanization, Self-Dehumanization, and Empathy as Mediating Factors Among Healthcare Professionals.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Deciphering the mechanism of women's mental health: a perspective of urban-rural differences.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeA systematic review was undertaken to determine whether research supports: (i) an association between income inequality and adult mental health when measured at the subnational level, and if so, (ii) in a way that supports the Income Inequality Hypothesis (i.e. between higher inequality and poorer mental health) or the Mixed Neighbourhood Hypothesis (higher inequality and better mental health).
methodsSystematic searches of PsycINFO, Medline and Web of Science databases were undertaken from database inception to September 2020. Included studies appeared in English-language, peer-reviewed journals and incorporated measure/s of objective income inequality and adult mental illness. Papers were excluded if they focused on highly specialised population samples. Study quality was assessed using a custom-developed tool and data synthesised using the vote-count method.
resultsForty-two studies met criteria for inclusion representing nearly eight million participants and more than 110,000 geographical units. Of these, 54.76% supported the Income Inequality Hypothesis and 11.9% supported the Mixed Neighbourhood Hypothesis. This held for highest quality studies and after controlling for absolute deprivation. The results were consistent across mental health conditions, size of geographical units, and held for low/middle and high income countries.
conclusionsA number of limitations in the literature were identified, including a lack of appropriate (multi-level) analyses and modelling of relevant confounders (deprivation) in many studies. Nonetheless, the findings suggest that area-level income inequality is associated with poorer mental health, and provides support for the introduction of social, economic and public health policies that ameliorate the deleterious effects of income inequality. CLINICAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: PROSPERO 2020 CRD42020181507.
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Registered trials
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.