Socioeconomic differences have been shown
to exist for a number of diseases including
ischaemic heart disease, many types of cancer,
respiratory diseases and, in particular, mortality
related to alcohol and violence. In
addition, despite a general fall in mortality
during recent decades, the relative disadvantage
of low socioeconomic status continues to
increase. The number of papers published on
socioeconomic factors and morbidity and mortality
is increasing sharply. The social gradient
in ischaemic heart disease has been extensively
studied but, although there are indicators that
socioeconomic differences in respiratory diseases
are greater still, very few studies have
focused on this disease entity.