Siegfried Geyer
Education, income, and occupational class cannot be used interchangeably in social epidemiology. Empirical evidence against a common practice
Medizinische Hochschule Hannover
education income occupational class often used interchangeably studies showing social inequalities health procedure implies three characteristics measure underlying phenomena paper questions practice study looked independent effects education income occupational class four health outcomes diabetes prevalence myocardial infarction incidence mortality finally cause mortality populations sweden germanysweden follow myocardial infarction mortality cause mortality entire population based census linkage cause death registry germany follow myocardial infarction morbidity cause mortality statutory health insurance data plus analysis prevalence data diabetes multiple regression analyses performed calculate effects education income occupational class mutual adjustmentssweden residents aged 2564 germany mettman district nordrheinwestfalen insured persons aged 2564correlations education income occupational class low moderate yielded strongest effects health depended type health outcome question diabetes education strongest predictor cause mortality income myocardial infarction morbidity mortality showed mixed picture mutually adjusted analyses social dimension independent effect health outcome countrieseducation income occupational class cannot used interchangeably indicators hypothetical latent social dimension although correlated measure different phenomena tap different causal mechanisms