(Press-News.org) UNDER STRICT EMBARGO UNTIL TUESDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 23:15 UK TIME (BST).
Self-reporting of health may lead to underestimation of health inequalities in England
Peer reviewed | Observational study | People
A first-of-its kind analysis of data collected from England’s annual health survey found that of the people who reported their health as ‘poor’, those living in areas of high deprivation are likely to have worse health than those living in the least deprived areas.
This could mean that we are underestimating health inequalities across England, and could have implications for public health practice and policy informed by self-reported health data.
Researchers from Queen Mary University of London and the University of Warwick analysed data collected from over 14,000 participants of the 2017 and 2018 waves of the Health Survey for England. They compared participants’ simple self-reported health (SRH) statements with a more detailed health-related quality of life measure, EQ-5D, which was collected at the same time. The analysis assessed differences in the relationship between SRH and EQ-5D by Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) quintile, a widely-used measure of deprivation.
The study found that self-reported good health declined with increasing deprivation, from 82.9% in the least deprived quintile to 63.9% in the most deprived quintile. Analysis also found that participants living in the most deprived two quintiles of areas in England who report poor health have lower EQ-5D scores – and therefore worse health – than would be expected based on their deprivation quintile and SRH status.
While additional research is needed to explore this further and quantify any impact on measures such as healthy life expectancy that incorporate SRH data, this study suggests that basing public health funding and interventions on SRH alone could result in an underestimation of health inequalities based on deprivation.
Oyinlola Oyebode, Professor of Public Health, at Queen Mary University of London, said: “Self-reported health is a widely used measure of health, most importantly in England we use it to calculate healthy life expectancy. Our analysis suggests that using self-reported health might underestimate socio-economic health inequalities, which may mean that resources and interventions are not appropriately targeted to the most vulnerable neighbourhoods or people.”
Rosanna Fforde, Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Warwick and Consultant in Public Health at Sandwell Council, said: “Understanding any systematic variation in how people self-report their health is important because this single question measure of health is so widely used, including in large surveys and the Census. The resultant large number of responses provides us with valuable granular insights into patterns of health, but this also means that it is important to explore whether ‘good’ health means the same thing to everyone.”
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
Contact
Honey Lucas
Faculty Communications Officer – Medicine and Dentistry
Queen Mary University of London
Email: h.lucas@qmul.ac.uk or press@qmul.ac.uk
Paper details:
R. Fforde, N. Parsons, and O. Oyebode. “Does socio-economic status modify how individuals perceive or describe their own health? An assessment of reporting heterogeneity in the Health Survey for England.” Published in BMJ Public Health.
DOI: 10.1136/bmjph-2023-000813
Available after publication at: http://dx.doi.org.10.1136/bmjph-2023-000813
Under strict embargo until Tuesday 17 September 23:15 UK BST.
A copy of the paper is available upon request.
Conflicts of interest: None reported.
Funded by: No specific funding was provided for this research project.
About Queen Mary
www.qmul.ac.uk
At Queen Mary University of London, we believe that a diversity of ideas helps us achieve the previously unthinkable.
Throughout our history, we’ve fostered social justice and improved lives through academic excellence. And we continue to live and breathe this spirit today, not because it’s simply ‘the right thing to do’ but for what it helps us achieve and the intellectual brilliance it delivers.
Our reformer heritage informs our conviction that great ideas can and should come from anywhere. It’s an approach that has brought results across the globe, from the communities of east London to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro.
We continue to embrace diversity of thought and opinion in everything we do, in the belief that when views collide, disciplines interact, and perspectives intersect, truly original thought takes form.
About The University of Warwick
The University of Warwick is one of the UK’s leading universities with over twenty-eight thousand students from 147 countries. Ranked 9th in the UK by The Guardian University Guide, it has an acknowledged reputation for excellence in research and teaching, for innovation, and for links with business and industry.
The recent Research Excellence Framework classed 92% of its research as ‘world leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’. The University of Warwick was awarded University of the Year for Teaching Quality by The Times and Sunday Times.
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Self-reporting of health may lead to underestimation of health inequalities in England
2024-09-17
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