Public health campaigns 'risk failing' less well-off families
Posted on 31 October 2005
Dr Kate Pickett, of the University's Department of Health Sciences, said that public health campaigns tended to be embraced more enthusiastically by better-off families, with the danger that health inequalities might increase as a result.
Her warning follows research she carried out, in collaboration with academics at the University of Chicago, into the effectiveness of a drive to reduce the incidence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in the USA in the 1990s.
The research, which has been published in the American Journal of Public Health, concluded that while the nationwide 'Back to Sleep' campaign - encouraging mothers to place their babies on their backs rather than their stomachs to sleep - helped to reduce SIDS cases overall in the USA, the gap in inequalities among SIDS deaths widened.
There's a general conclusion to be drawn...that if you want to reduce health inequality, the people most likely to respond to interventions are those who need them least
Dr Kate Pickett
Researchers conducted a population-based study during 1989-1991 and 1996-1998, using the US Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Sets. Social class was measured by the mother's education level.
There was no evidence that inequalities in SIDS were reduced after the 'Back to Sleep' campaign. In fact, risk for SIDS associated with lower social class increased from 1989-1991 to 1996-1998. The race disparity in SIDS increased after the campaign.
The research found that the introduction of an inexpensive, easy, public health intervention had not reduced social inequalities in SIDS, rather the gap had widened. Though the risk of SIDS had been reduced for all social class groups, women who were more educated had experienced the greatest decline.
Dr Pickett said: "Though the research relates to the USA, there's a general conclusion to be drawn from it that if you want to reduce health inequality, the people most likely to respond to interventions are those who need them least.
"Public health campaigns may seek to improve everybody's health, but the general principle that comes out of this research is that people that take up these campaigns are generally the better-educated and better-off rather than the social group with the biggest potential for improvements in health."
Notes to editors:
- Widening social inequalities in Risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome by Dr Kate Pickett of the University of York and Dr Ye Luo and Dr Diane S. Lauderdale, of the University of Chicago is published in the American Journal of Public Health. www.apha.org/news
- The University of York's Department of Health Sciences is a large multi-disciplinary department, offering a broad range of taught and research programmes in the health care field, including nursing. It aims to develop the role of scientific evidence in health and health care through high quality research, teaching and other forms of dissemination.