Social inequalities, regional disparities and health inequity in North African countries.

Background: During the last decades, North African countries have substantially improved economic, social and health conditions of their populations in average. In all countries, human development in general and life expectancy, literacy and per capita income in particular have increased. However, improvement was not equally shared between groups of different milieu, regions or level of income.

Comparative appraisal of educational inequalities in overweight and obesity among adults in 19 European countries.

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.

Time to retire--time to die? A prospective cohort study of the effects of early retirement on long-term survival.

In a long-term prospective cohort study we try to assess selective and protective impacts of early retirement on life expectancy. The results are based on the members of a compulsory German health insurance fund (Gmünder Ersatzkasse). We analyzed 88,399 men and 41,276 women who retired between the ages of 50 and 65 from January 1990 to December 2004.

Association between educational level and vegetable use in nine European countries.

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.

Female ever-smoking, education, emancipation and economic development in 19 European countries.

Large differences in ever-smoking rates among women are found between countries and socio-economic groups. This study examined the socio-economic inequalities in female ever-smoking rates in 19 European countries, and explored the association between cross-national differences in these inequalities and economic development and women's emancipation. Data on smoking were derived from national health interview surveys from 19 European countries.