Economic crises are complex events that affect behavioral patterns (including alcohol consumption) via opposing mechanisms. With this realist systematic review, we aimed to investigate evidence from studies of previous or ongoing crises on which mechanisms (How?) play a role among which...

Previous studies have shown that smoking prevalence is higher in deprived areas than in affluent areas. We aimed to determine whether smoking initiation or continuation contributes most to inequalities in current smoking, and in which population subgroups these area differences were largest....

In contrast to the situation in many European countries, the mortality of immigrants in France has been little studied. The main reasons for the lack of studies are based on ethical and ideological considerations. The objective of this study is to explore mortality by country of birth in...

Background In Western societies, a lower educational level is often associated with a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity. However, there may be important international differences in the strength and direction of this relationship, perhaps in respect of differing levels of...

Large differences in ever-smoking rates among women are found between countries and socio-economic groups. This study examined the socio-economic inequalities in female ever-smoking rates in 19 European countries, and explored the association between cross-national differences in these...

Comparisons among countries can help to identify opportunities for the reduction of inequalities in health. We compared the magnitude of inequalities in mortality and self-assessed health among 22 countries in all parts of Europe.

A partner's socioeconomic characteristics can influence one's own health. Nevertheless, little is known about the relative importance of a partner's education, occupation and income in relation to inequalities in mortality. In this study, we consider the relative contribution of these three...