ArticleBMJ open2022
Theoretical explanations for socioeconomic inequalities in multimorbidity: a scoping review.
Article in BMJ open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sociodemographic intersections and risk of multiple long-term conditions: A systematic review.PloS one · 2025Pooled it
- Association Between the Presence of Multimorbidity and Sociodemographic Factors and Health Care Utilization in the Adult Population of Serbia: A National Health Survey.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Relationship between socioeconomic inequality and multimorbidity progression in UK Biobank data.Communications medicine · 2026Article
- Life course socioeconomic determinants of multimorbidity in later life: longitudinal evidence from the Health and Retirement Study.Longitudinal and life course studies : international journal · 2026Article
- Patient-reported disease burden and health care utilization of HAE-nl-C1INH: insights from a real-world survey.Clinical and experimental medicine · 2026Article
- Does lifestyle explain the relationship between socioeconomic position and multimorbidity of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases? A mediation analysis applied to the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition.Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2025Article
- Assessing the Ability to Use eHealth Resources Among Older Adults: Cross-Sectional Survey Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Demographic and socioeconomic factors associated with multiple morbidities at 40 years of age: the 1982 Pelotas (Brazil) birth cohort.Cadernos de saude publica · 2025Article
- A longitudinal Analysis of the Association between Socioeconomic Position and Multimorbidity in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition Study.Aging and disease · 2024Article
- Younger but sicker? Cohort trends in disease accumulation among middle-aged and older adults in Scotland using health-linked data from the Scottish Longitudinal Study.European journal of public health · 2024Article
- Social Disadvantage and Multimorbidity Including Oral Conditions in the United States.Journal of dental research · 2024Article
- The role of lifestyle factors in the association between education and self-reported fibromyalgia: a mediation analysis.BMC women's health · 2024Article
- Article
- Substantial increase in perceived benefits over harms of COVID-19 outbreak but persistent socioeconomic disparities: Comparison of two cross-sectional surveys in Hong Kong from 2020 to 2021.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Exploring theoretical policy options for reducing socioeconomic inequalities in multimorbidity: A microsimulation study in England from 2019-2049.Journal of multimorbidity and comorbidityArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo document socioepidemiological theories used to explain the relationship between socioeconomic disadvantage and multimorbidity.
designScoping review.
methodsA search strategy was developed and then applied to multiple electronic databases including Medline, Embase, PsychInfo, Web of Science, Scielo, Applied Social Sciences, ERIC, Humanities Index and Sociological Abstracts. After the selection of studies, data were extracted using a data charting plan. The last search was performed on the 28 September 2021. Extracted data included: study design, country, population subgroups, measures of socioeconomic inequality, assessment of multimorbidity and conclusion on the association between socioeconomic variables and multimorbidity. Included studies were further assessed on their use of theory, type of theories used and context of application. Finally, we conducted a meta-narrative synthesis to summarise the results.
resultsA total of 64 studies were included in the review. Of these, 33 papers included theories as explanations for the association between socioeconomic position and multimorbidity. Within this group, 16 explicitly stated those theories and five tested at least one theory. Behavioural theories (health behaviours) were the most frequently used, followed by materialist (access to health resources) and psychosocial (stress pathways) theories. Most studies used theories as post hoc explanations for their findings or for study rationale. Supportive evidence was found for the role of material, behavioural and life course theories in explaining the relationship between social inequalities and multimorbidity.
conclusionGiven the widely reported social inequalities in multimorbidity and its increasing public health burden, there is a critical gap in evidence on pathways from socioeconomic disadvantage to multimorbidity. Generating evidence of these pathways will guide the development of intervention and public policies to prevent multimorbidity among people living in social disadvantage. Material, behavioural and life course pathways can be targeted to reduce the negative effect of low socioeconomic position on multimorbidity.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.