SEDENTARINESS AND EDUCATION CONTRIBUTE SIGNIFICANTLY TO SOCIOECONOMIC INEQUALITIES IN NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES

Abstract

In Europe, the main non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and mental disorders, all together account for an estimated 86% of the deaths and 77% of the disease burden. Of the six WHO regions, Europe is the most affected by NCDs [1]. The detection and control of physiological and behavioral risk factors (BRFs) remain the essential preventive strategy to counteract not only the average population’s exposure to the main NCDs, but also socioeconomic inequalities, which are related to chronic diseases. The scope of this work is to investigate socioeconomic inequalities among the European elderly in NCDs and BRFs for NCDs, namely tobacco consumption, obesity, unhealthy nutrition and physical inactivity, between 2004 and 2015.