Measuring disparities in health outcomes is well
established in England. Data demonstrating the
association between socio-economic status and
health outcomes have been collected for over 200
years. The Office of National Statistics (the
principal health data collection and reporting
agency in the UK) routinely makes available
mortality data correlated with occupational status,
a proxy for social class. They show a clear ‘social
gradient in the risk of premature death’, with men
working in routine jobs 2.8 times more likely to die
between the ages of 25 and 64 years than men
working in higher managerial jobs. Long-term
trend data on life expectancy correlated with social
class are also available. Health outcome data in
England have also been correlated routinely with
local area deprivation,20 finding, for example, that
death rates for males of all ages living in the most
deprived areas were 1.7 times higher than those of
males living in the least deprived areas between
1999 and 2003