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Objective: The relationship of socio-economic status and vegetable consumption is examined in nine European countries. The aim is to analyse whether the pattern of socio-economic variation with regard to vegetable consumption is similar in all studied countries with high v. low vegetable availability and affordability, and whether education has an independent effect on vegetable consumption once the effects of other socio-economic factors have been taken into account.Design: The data for the study were obtained from national surveys conducted in Finland, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, France, Italy and Spain, in 1998 or later. These surveys included data on the frequency of use of vegetables. Food Balance Sheets indicated that the availability of vegetables was best in the Mediterranean countries. The prices of vegetables were lowest in the Mediterranean countries and Germany.Results: Educational level was positively associated with vegetable consumption in the Nordic and Baltic countries. In the Mediterranean countries, education was not directly associated with the use of vegetables but, after adjusting for place of residence and occupation, it was found that those with a lower educational level consumed vegetables slightly more often. Manual workers consumed vegetables less often than non-manual workers, but otherwise there was no systematic association with occupation.Conclusions: The Mediterranean countries did not show a positive association between educational level and vegetable consumption. The positive association found in the Northern European countries is linked to the lower availability and affordability of vegetables there and their everyday cooking habits with no long-standing cultural tradition of using vegetables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the patterns of socio-economic inequalities in leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) in the different member states of the European Union., Methods: Comparable data on subjects aged 16-64 years derived from national health interview surveys from 15 European countries were used for the analysis. We used log-binominal regression to assess prevalence rate ratios (PRRs). The PRR measured the risk of showing a low level of LTPA for a given educational level, relative to the highest educational group., Results: Within Europe, large cross-national differences in the overall prevalence of a low level of LTPA were observed. However, a low level of LTPA was always more common among those of lower educational attainment. The educational inequalities in a low level of LTPA were more pronounced in men. For the lowest compared with the highest educational level, the PRR was 1.53 (95% CI: 1.49-1.57) in males and 1.36 (95% CI: 1.33-1.39) in females. There was no consistent relationship between the absolute level of prevalence rate, as measured by the rate for the highly educated, and the magnitude of these inequalities., Conclusions: Throughout Europe, physical activity during leisure time is less common among the lower educational groups compared with the higher educational groups. Programs to promote LTPA should consider strategies that target people of lower educational attainment.

Background: In Western societies, a lower educational level is often associated with a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity. However, there may be important international differences in the strength and direction of this relationship, perhaps in respect of differing levels of socio-economic development. We aimed to describe educational inequalities in overweight and obesity across Europe, and to explore the contribution of level of socio-economic development to cross-national differences in educational inequalities in overweight and obese adults in Europe., Methods: Cross-sectional data, based on self-reports, were derived from national health interview surveys from 19 European countries (N = 127 018; age range = 25-44 years). Height and weight data were used to calculate the body mass index (BMI). Multivariate regression analysis was employed to measure educational inequalities in overweight and obesity, based on BMI. Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was used as a measure of level of socio-economic development., Results: Inverse educational gradients in overweight and obesity (i.e. higher education, less overweight and obesity) are a generalized phenomenon among European men and even more so among women. Baltic and eastern European men were the exceptions, with weak positive associations between education and overweight and obesity. Educational inequalities in overweight and obesity were largest in Mediterranean women. A 10 000-euro increase in GDP was related to a 3% increase in overweight and obesity for low-educated men, but a 4% decrease for high-educated men. No associations with GDP were observed for women., Conclusion: In most European countries, people of lower educational attainment are now most likely to be overweight or obese. An increasing level of socio-economic development was associated with an emergence of inequalities among men, and a persistence of these inequalities among women.

In all European countries, the rates of death were higher in groups of lower socioeconomic status, but the magnitude of the inequalities between groups of higher and lower socioeconomic status was much larger in some countries than in others. Inequalities in mortality were small in some Southern European countries and very large in most countries in the eastern and Baltic regions. These variations among countries appeared to be attributable in part to causes of death related to smoking or alcohol use or amenable to medical intervention. These results imply that there is opportunity to reduce inequalities in mortality. Developing policies and interventions that effectively target the structural and immediate determinants of inequalities in health is an urgent priority for public health research.

The objectives of this study are to describe, for European countries, variations among political traditions in the magnitude of inequalities in self-perceived health by educational level and to determine whether these variations change when contextual welfare state, labor market, wealth, and income inequality variables are taken into account. In this cross-sectional study, the authors look at the population aged 25 to 64 in 13 European countries. Individual data were obtained from the Health Interview Surveys of each country. Educational-level inequalities in self-perceived health exist in all countries and in all political traditions, among both women and men. When countries are grouped by political tradition, social democratic countries are found to have the lowest educational-level inequalities.

Objectives: To assess which socio-economic indicator best predicts overweight in the European Union: educational attainment, occupational class or household income., Setting: The prevalence of overweight is strongly related to socio-economic position. The relative importance of different socio-economic dimensions is uncertain, and might vary between countries., Design and Subjects: Cross-sectional self-report data of the European Community Household Panel were obtained from nine countries (n 52,855; age 25-64 years). Uni- and multivariate regression analyses were employed to predict overweight (BMI >or= 25 kg/m2) in relationship to socio-economic indicators. Occupational class was measured using the new European Socioeconomic Classification., Results: Large socio-economic differences in overweight were observed in all countries, especially for women. For both sexes, a low educational attainment was the strongest predictor of overweight. After controlling for education, overweight was negatively related to household income in women, but positively in men. Similar patterns were found for occupational class. For women, but not for men, educational inequalities in overweight were generally greater in Southern European countries. A similar pattern of inequalities in overweight was observed for all ages between 25 and 64 years., Conclusions: Across Europe, overweight was more strongly and more consistently related to educational attainment than to occupational class or household income. People with lower educational attainment should be a specific target group for programmes and policies that aim to prevent overweight.

Aims/hypothesis: The aim of this study was to determine and quantify socioeconomic position (SEP) inequalities in diabetes mellitus in different areas of Europe, at the turn of the century, for men and women., Methods: We analysed data from ten representative national health surveys and 13 mortality registers. For national health surveys the dependent variable was the presence of diabetes by self-report and for mortality registers it was death from diabetes. Educational level (SEP), age and sex were independent variables, and age-adjusted prevalence ratios (PRs) and risk ratios (RRs) were calculated., Results: In the overall study population, low SEP was related to a higher prevalence of diabetes, for example men who attained a level of education equivalent to lower secondary school or less had a PR of 1.6 (95% CI 1.4-1.9) compared with those who attained tertiary level education, whereas the corresponding value in women was 2.2 (95% CI 1.9-2.7). Moreover, in all countries, having a disadvantaged SEP is related to a higher rate of mortality from diabetes and a linear relationship is observed. Eastern European countries have higher relative inequalities in mortality by SEP. According to our data, the RR of dying from diabetes for women with low a SEP is 3.4 (95% CI 2.6-4.6), while in men it is 2.0 (95% CI 1.7-2.4)., Conclusions/interpretation: In Europe, educational attainment and diabetes are inversely related, in terms of both morbidity and mortality rates. This underlines the importance of targeting interventions towards low SEP groups. Access and use of healthcare services by people with diabetes also need to be improved.

This study examined mental health problems and mental health services (MHS) utilization after a fireworks disaster among adult survivors and a comparison group. The disaster took place on May 13, 2000, in the city of Enschede, The Netherlands. Victims (N=662) participated in a survey 2-3 weeks (T1), 18 months (T2) and 4 years (T3) post-disaster. The comparison group consisted of non-affected people from another city (N=526). They participated at T2 and T3. Victims used MHS more often than the comparison group in the 12-month period before T2 and T3 (OR 3.9 and 2.4). Victims with severe depression and anxiety symptoms at T2 used MHS more often than participants in the comparison group with these symptoms (OR 2.6 and 2.0). After 4 years, MHS utilization among participants in both groups with anxiety symptoms did not differ, suggesting attenuation of the observed effects. Results suggest that after a disaster survivors with mental health problems are less reluctant to use MHS than under normal circumstances.

Research about attentional functioning following trauma has almost exclusively been performed in patient populations with combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In this study the relationship between sustained attention and PTSD symptoms was examined in a community sample of survivors of a major disaster using the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT) and the Self-Rating Scale for PTSD (SRS-PTSD) 2-3 years postdisaster. Analyses revealed low but significant partial correlations between PTSD symptoms and the least difficult subtests, ruling out the effects of age, education, depressive symptomatology, and sleep disturbances. These results demonstrate that PTSD symptoms link to attentional dysfunction 2-3 years postdisaster.