Life expectancy: poverty kills

While ESRI reported that life expectancy rose in the boom, it fell for working class people

That rising economic tides do not lift all boats is well recognised. Research presented at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) conference "Socio-economic inequalities in mortality in Ireland over time and place" showed a significant increase in life expectancy in the Republic during the most recent economic boom. But this "longevity bonus" was not shared equally across social groups: while death rates among male professionals, managers and the self -employed decreased by 27 per cent between the 1990s and 2000s, mortality among working class males increased by 4 per cent.

Research carried out by the Institute for Public Health in Ireland has established that those from lower socioeconomic groups here experience poorer health outcomes. People with higher incomes are less likely to die from cancer. Income inequality correlates with a higher prevalence of mental illness, higher infant mortality and greater levels of obesity.According to a study by the ESRI, Trinity College Dublin and NUI Maynooth the growing gap in life expectancy across social groups can be largely explained by external causes, digestive diseases and, in women, by mortality from cancer. External causes include accidents, suicide and assault while liver and oesophageal diseases feature in the digestive category. Another emerging trend is an increase in liver cirrhosis, reflecting greater alcohol consumption. Improvements in mortality for respiratory and cardiac disease can actually be traced to health interventions taken in the 1990s, emphasising the long lead-in time associated with public health initiatives. The relative paucity of social gradient longevity data among women is a cause of concern.

The research highlights an urgent need for public health interventions in alcohol consumption to mirror initiatives that have been successful in reducing smoking rates. These latest findings can provide a much-needed stimulus to the Government’s public health strategy Healthy Ireland. Only a determined co-ordination involving a whole-of-Government approach will bring about changes to our widening health inequalities.