Who benefits from antidepressants? US health inequities

Citation: Kirsch I, Deacon BJ, Huedo-Medina TB, Scoboria A, Moore TJ, et al. (2008) Initial severity and antidepressant benefits: A metaanalysis of data submitted to the Food and Drug Administration. PLoS Med 5(2): e45.

IN YOUR ARTICLE, PLEASE LINK TO THIS URL, WHICH WILL PROVIDE ACCESS TO THE PUBLISHED PAPER: http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0050045

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Health inequities in the US have narrowed then widened over last four decades

The difference in health between rich and poor and between different racial/ethnic groups, as measured by rates of dying young and of infant deaths, shrank in the US from 1966 to 1980 then widened from 1980 to 2002, according to a new study in PLoS Medicine.

The study also found that if everyone in the US had experienced the same health gains as the most advantaged did from 1960 to 2002 (i.e. as the whites in the highest income groups), 14% of premature deaths among whites and 30% of premature deaths among people of color would have been prevented.

A debate has raged among public health experts in different countries as to whether disparities in health widen or narrow as overall mortality rates decline. Some research has found that as the overall population health has improved, the disparities in health between rich and poor and between different ethnic groups have narrowed. However, other research has shown that overall health gains mask worsening disparities - while rich, white Americans get healthier, the poor and those in ethnic minority groups either get sicker or else their health improves at a much slower pace.