Health inequality in Britain before 1750

Background: This study examines the claim that social inequality in health in European populations was absent prior to 1750. This claim is primarily based on comparisons of life expectancy at birth in England between general and ducal (elite aristocrat) social classes from the 1550s to the 1870s. Me...

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Autores principales:	Ellen J. Kendall, Alex T. Brown, Tim Doran, Rebecca Gowland, Richard Cookson
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Elsevier 2021
Materias:	Life expectancy Early modern England Childhood mortality Social inequality Historical demography Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Social sciences (General) H1-99
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/c8bb533b4aab41debd0af698d5a000c7
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:c8bb533b4aab41debd0af698d5a000c72021-11-20T05:07:33ZHealth inequality in Britain before 17502352-827310.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100957https://doaj.org/article/c8bb533b4aab41debd0af698d5a000c72021-12-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352827321002329https://doaj.org/toc/2352-8273Background: This study examines the claim that social inequality in health in European populations was absent prior to 1750. This claim is primarily based on comparisons of life expectancy at birth in England between general and ducal (elite aristocrat) social classes from the 1550s to the 1870s. Methods: We examined historic childhood mortality trends among the English ducal class and the general population, based on previously published data. We compared mid-childhood to adolescent mortality (age 5–14) and early-childhood mortality (age 0–4) between the ducal class and the general population from the 17th to 19th centuries. Results: Prior to 1750, ducal early-childhood mortality was higher than the general population. However, mid-childhood to adolescent mortality was lower among the ducal class than the general population in all observed periods for boys, and almost all periods for girls. Among the ducal class, but not the general population, there was a sharp decline in early-childhood mortality around the 1750s which may partly explain the divergent trends in overall life expectancy at birth. Conclusion: Health inequality between the ducal class and general population was present in England from the 16th to mid-18th centuries, with disadvantages in mortality for ducal children in infancy and early childhood, but survival advantages in mid-childhood and adolescence. These opposing effects are obscured in life expectancy at birth data. Relatively high early-childhood mortality among ducal families before 1750 likely resulted from short birth intervals and harmful infant feeding practices during this time.Ellen J. KendallAlex T. BrownTim DoranRebecca GowlandRichard CooksonElsevierarticleLife expectancyEarly modern EnglandChildhood mortalitySocial inequalityHistorical demographyPublic aspects of medicineRA1-1270Social sciences (General)H1-99ENSSM: Population Health, Vol 16, Iss , Pp 100957- (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Life expectancy Early modern England Childhood mortality Social inequality Historical demography Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Social sciences (General) H1-99
spellingShingle	Life expectancy Early modern England Childhood mortality Social inequality Historical demography Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Social sciences (General) H1-99 Ellen J. Kendall Alex T. Brown Tim Doran Rebecca Gowland Richard Cookson Health inequality in Britain before 1750
description	Background: This study examines the claim that social inequality in health in European populations was absent prior to 1750. This claim is primarily based on comparisons of life expectancy at birth in England between general and ducal (elite aristocrat) social classes from the 1550s to the 1870s. Methods: We examined historic childhood mortality trends among the English ducal class and the general population, based on previously published data. We compared mid-childhood to adolescent mortality (age 5–14) and early-childhood mortality (age 0–4) between the ducal class and the general population from the 17th to 19th centuries. Results: Prior to 1750, ducal early-childhood mortality was higher than the general population. However, mid-childhood to adolescent mortality was lower among the ducal class than the general population in all observed periods for boys, and almost all periods for girls. Among the ducal class, but not the general population, there was a sharp decline in early-childhood mortality around the 1750s which may partly explain the divergent trends in overall life expectancy at birth. Conclusion: Health inequality between the ducal class and general population was present in England from the 16th to mid-18th centuries, with disadvantages in mortality for ducal children in infancy and early childhood, but survival advantages in mid-childhood and adolescence. These opposing effects are obscured in life expectancy at birth data. Relatively high early-childhood mortality among ducal families before 1750 likely resulted from short birth intervals and harmful infant feeding practices during this time.
format	article
author	Ellen J. Kendall Alex T. Brown Tim Doran Rebecca Gowland Richard Cookson
author_facet	Ellen J. Kendall Alex T. Brown Tim Doran Rebecca Gowland Richard Cookson
author_sort	Ellen J. Kendall
title	Health inequality in Britain before 1750
title_short	Health inequality in Britain before 1750
title_full	Health inequality in Britain before 1750
title_fullStr	Health inequality in Britain before 1750
title_full_unstemmed	Health inequality in Britain before 1750
title_sort	health inequality in britain before 1750
publisher	Elsevier
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/c8bb533b4aab41debd0af698d5a000c7
work_keys_str_mv	AT ellenjkendall healthinequalityinbritainbefore1750 AT alextbrown healthinequalityinbritainbefore1750 AT timdoran healthinequalityinbritainbefore1750 AT rebeccagowland healthinequalityinbritainbefore1750 AT richardcookson healthinequalityinbritainbefore1750
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Health inequality in Britain before 1750

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