Income Disparities in (Multi)morbidity in Premature Death: Retrospective Analysis of Danish Registry Data

Elizabet Ukolova , Interdisciplinary center for population dynamics

Premature death is associated with greater multimorbidity and lower socioeconomic status (SES), both evolving and interacting across the life course. We studied a cohort of individuals who died prematurely in 2018–2019 and tracked their income trajectories and health from 2000 until death by linking the Danish Patient Registry, Cause of Death Registry, and Income Registry. Within this cohort, we selected persons who remained persistently in the low income or high income groups and examined how disease connections and their evolution over time differed between these groups. Results show a consistent pattern of widening 'pro-poor gaps' nearing end of life, characterized by earlier death, increased multimorbidity and stronger disease associations in the HIG during the final years before death. The most commonly treated diseases at the population level often present a higher risk of disease accumulation in HIG. This is the general tendency: The network visualization of disparities in disease connections by income shows several income specific associations that are stronger in LIG. To conclude, premature deaths result from heterogeneous disease experiences, shaped in part by income related gradients in healthcare engagement and by variation in treatments received.

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 Presented in Session 93. Social Inequalities in Morbidity and Disparities in Mental Health