Prof Tony Blakely, Dr Andrea Teng, Prof Nick Wilson
Policy-makers need to know how much of ethnic inequalities in health are due to socioeconomic position and tobacco smoking, but quantifying this is surprisingly difficult. In this Blog, and accompanying video, we summarize new research using NZ’s linked census-mortality data, blended with innovative new ‘counterfactual’ methods to determine causal relationships that can shed light on policy-relevant questions. A half or more of Māori:European/Other inequalities in mortality are due to four socioeconomic factors (education, labour force status, income and deprivation), and this percentage is stable over time for males but increasing for females. Eradicating tobacco will not only improve mortality for all sociodemographic groups, but reduce absolute inequalities in mortality between Māori and European/Other by a quarter. It is hard to think of another intervention that will reduce inequalities by as much.