One third of premature deaths linked to social inequality

Nearly 900,000 deaths in England could have been avoided in a more equal society, according to a UCL study of 2.5 million premature deaths over the last 16 years. The study, published today in The Lancet Public Health , found that one in three deaths before the age of 75 are attributable to socio-economic and regional health inequalities. Heart disease, lung cancer and lung diseases such as chronic bronchitis were the biggest problems, causing almost 400,000 excess deaths between them. Lead author, Research Fellow, Dan Lewer (UCL Epidemiology & Health Care) said, "We have known for a long time that poverty and inequality have a major effect on people's health and life expectancy. Our study shows how this translates into actual numbers of deaths. If everyone in England had the same mortality rate as people living in the best-off areas, there would have been 877,000 fewer premature deaths between 2003 and 2018. That's one death every 10 minutes.