According to a study by the Department of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (Drees), the least well-off people are more likely to contract chronic diseases in France.
The statistics raise questions regarding the efficiency of our health system and the inequality of access to care in France. The Department of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (Drees) has just published a study in which we learn that the most modest French people have a lower life expectancy than the wealthiest.
6 years less life expectancy
The DREES study is available on its official website. It looked at social inequalities in the face of various chronic pathologies such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, neurological diseases, liver diseases, chronic respiratory diseases and cancers in 2016 and 2017.
The first conclusion that emerges is that life expectancy is generally lower in the poorest people and above all, that it is 6 years lower when taking into account patients with chronic diseases. A figure that proves the inequality of access to care.
More affected by chronic diseases
In detail, the study shows that the 10% of the least affluent people are more likely to develop a chronic disease than the 10% of the richest.
We are talking regarding a 1.5 times greater risk for neurological diseases, 1.4 times greater for cardiovascular illnesses1.6 times more important for respiratory diseases and 2.8 times more important for diabetes.
These inequalities emerge when socio-professional categories are taken into account, since workers and employees are more exposed to chronic diseases than executives and higher intellectual professions.
Inequalities in cancer screening
The work of Drees also brings out a seemingly reassuring figure, but which hides a much more vague reality. In fact, we found less than cancers among the poorest people. However, the researchers point out that the study does not take into account social inequalities in screening for the disease.
“Without chronic diseases, the gap in life expectancy at birth between the wealthiest and the poorest would be reduced by more than a third” concluded the DREES in its study.
