Impact of Socioeconomic Inequalities in Transition Between Health, Multimorbidity and Death Amongst Older People

Life expectancy at age 65 in the most deprived fifth of the English population was about 4 years shorter than of the most affluent fifth in 2010. The inverse gradient between mortality and social position is well established. But how disease patterns and multimorbidity (having two or more long term conditions at the same time) impact on differential mortality rates is inconclusive: is it because disadvantaged groups acquire more or more lethal combinations of, diseases over their life course; or, simply, become ill at ages younger than more affluent groups?