Citation

Kruithof N, de Jongh MA, de Munter L, Lansink KW, Polinder S. Injury 2017; 48(3): 578-590.

Affiliation

Erasmus MC, Department of Public Health, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.injury.2017.01.013

PMID

28077211

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Over the past decades, the number of survivors of injuries has rapidly grown. It has become important to focus more on the determinants of non-fatal outcome. Although socio-economic status (SES) is considered to be a fundamental determinant of health in general, the role of SES as a determinant of non-fatal outcome after injury is largely unknown.

METHODS: An online search was conducted in November 2015 using Embase, Medline, Web of Science, Cinahl, Cochrane, Google scholar and PubMed. Studies examining the relation between SES and a physical or psychological outcome measure, or using SES as a confounder in a general trauma population were included. There were no restrictions regarding study design. The 'Quality in Prognostic Studies tool' was used to assess the methodological quality of the included studies.

RESULTS: The 24 included studies showed large variations in methodological quality. The number of participants ranged from 56 to 4639, and assessments of the measures ranged from immediately to 6year post-injury. Studies used a large number of variables as indicators of SES. Participant's educational level was used most frequently. The majority of the studies used a multivariable technique to analyse the relation between SES and non-fatal outcome after injury. All studies found a positive association (80% of studies significant, n=19) between increased SES and better non-fatal outcome after injury.

CONCLUSION: Although an adequate and valid measure of SES is lacking, the results of this review showed that SES is an important determinant of non-fatal outcome after injury. Future research should focus on the definition and measurement of SES and should further underpin the effect of SES on non-fatal outcome after injury.

Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Determinant; Injury; Non-fatal outcome; Physical outcome; Physiological outcome; Socio-economic status; Socioeconomic status; Trauma