Socioeconomic inequalities in mortality from conditions amenable to medical interventions: do they reflect inequalities in access or quality of health care?

Table 5 Inequalities in smoking and overweight in European countries between low and high educational groups

Country	Smoking^*	Overweight	Smoking-related deaths^‡	Alcohol-related deaths^∥
	OR (CI95)^†	OR (CI95)^†	RR (CI95)^†	RR (CI95)^†
Western Europe
Belgium	1.51 (1.45–1.58)	1.51 (1.45–1.57)	1.72 (1.68–1.77)	1.44 (1.33–1.56)
Switzerland	NA	NA	NA	NA
Nordic countries
Sweden	1.26 (1.13–1.40)	0.96 (0.87–1.05)	1.33 (1.31–1.35)	1.78 (1.72–1.84)
Finland	1.29 (1.12–1.36)	1.07 (1.02–1.13)	1.78 (1.73–1.84)	1.67 (1.61–1.74)
Denmark	1.45 (1.35–1.56)	1.25 (1.16–1.34)	1.42 (1.38–1.46)	1.32 (1.25–1.39)
Norway	1.43 (1.25–1.64)	0.95 (0.83–1.09)	1.57 (1.53–1.63)	1.76 (1.65–1.89)
Southern Europe
Italy	1.08 (1.05–1.11)	1.51 (1.45–1.57)	1.21 (1.16–1.27)	2.31 (1.63–3.47)
Spain	1.21 (1.13–1.29)	NA	1.43 (1.37–1.49)	1.87 (1.42–2.47)
Baltic region
Estonia	1.27 (1.11–1.45)	0.95 (0.83–1.08)	1.64 (1.54–1.74)	1.88 (1.70–2.07)
Lithuania	1.48 (1.35–1.62)	1.03 (0.95–1.08)	2.21 (2.09–2.34)	2.78 (2.53–3.07)
Central and Eastern Europe
Slovenia	1.40 (1.09–1.81)	1.11 (0.86–1.42)	1.52 (1.47–1.58)	2.41 (2.26–2.57)
Poland	NA	NA	NA	NA
Czech Republic	1.86 (1.62–2.12)	1.27 (1.12–1.14)	2.41 (2.34–2.47)	2.69 (2.52–2.87)
Hungary	1.88 (1.72–2.05)	1.21 (1.12–1.32)	2.09 (2.04–2.14)	2.27 (2.19–2.33)

*Smoking= current regular smoking and occasional smoking, Overweight=body mass index > 25.
† OR (CI95)=odds ratio with 95% confidence interval adjusted for age and sex.
‡Smoking related death are chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cancer of the buccal cavity, pharynx, oesophagus, larynx, trachea, bronchus, and lung.
∥Alcohol related deaths are accidental poisoning by alcohol and alcoholic psychosis, dependence, abuse, cardiomyopathy, cirrhosis of the liver and inflammation of the pancreas.
For Switzerland and Poland no survey data were available (NA).

ISSN: 1471-2458