Housing conditions in childhood and cause-specific adult mortality: The effect of sanitary conditions and economic deprivation on 55,761 men in Oslo

Abstract

Aims: To examine indices of two plausible pathways linking housing conditions in childhood and adult cause-specific mortality: sanitary conditions and economic deprivation. To investigate if the effects of these are explained by education. Methods: Linked register study (housing information from the 1960 Census, the educational register in 1990 and the death register 1990—998). A Sanitary Conditions Index (SCI) and an Economic Deprivation Index (EDI) were constructed from the housing conditions variables. Participants: All men aged 30—54 years (n=55,761) who were residents in Oslo on 1 January 1990 with complete information on housing conditions (80%). Results: Both SCI and EDI were related to all-cause mortality independently of each other. Education explained to a large extent these effects. In a sub-sample, 24% of the effects could be explained by parental education and 31% by own education. The effects found for causes of death failed to give a heterogeneous pattern between the two indices. In the fully adjusted model psychiatric causes of death appeared to be more related to EDI than SCI. Conclusions: The two indices of childhood social circumstances, sanitary conditions and economic deprivation, appeared to be independently associated with all-cause mortality. The effect of both could to a large extent be explained by parental and own education.

Keywords

Education housing longitudinal studies mortality

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