ArticleEuropean journal of public health2023
Waves of inequality: income differences in intensive care due to Covid-19 in Sweden.
Article in European journal of public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.
- Intersectional inequalities in COVID-19 hospitalisation and mortality: A nationwide MAIHDA study of Swedish adults across four pandemic waves (2020-2022).SSM - population health · 2026Article
- Who is worthy of protection? Revisiting a theoretical model on the social origins of health inequities during the COVID-19 pandemic.Scandinavian journal of public health · 2026Review
- Dynamics of social inequalities in severe COVID-19 outcomes in metropolitan France from 2020 to 2022.Communications medicine · 2025Article
- Trying to create order in chaos-healthcare workers' perspective of COVID-19 intensive care (a qualitative study).BMJ open quality · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSocioeconomically vulnerable groups were overall more likely to develop severe Covid-19, but specific conditions in terms of preparedness, knowledge and the properties of the virus itself changed during the course of the pandemic. Inequalities in Covid-19 may therefore shift over time. This study examines the relationship between income and intensive care (ICU) episodes due to Covid-19 in Sweden during three distinct waves.
methodsThis study uses Swedish register data on the total adult population and estimates the relative risk (RR) of ICU episodes due to Covid-19 by income quartile for each month between March 2020 and May 2022, and for each wave, using Poisson regression analyses.
resultsThe first wave had modest income-related inequalities, while the second wave had a clear income gradient, with the lowest income quartile having an increased risk compared to the high-income group [RR: 1.55 (1.36-1.77)]. In the third wave, the overall need for ICU decreased, but RRs increased, particularly in the lowest income quartile [RR: 3.72 (3.50-3.96)]. Inequalities in the third wave were partly explained by differential vaccination coverage by income quartile, although substantial inequalities remained after adjustment for vaccination status [RR: 2.39 (2.20-2.59)].
conclusionsThe study highlights the importance of considering the changing mechanisms that connect income and health during a novel pandemic. The finding that health inequalities increased as the aetiology of Covid-19 became better understood could be interpreted through the lens of adapted fundamental cause theory.
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