The DOI matches its Crossref record; 51 of the 51 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 17 of the 50 sources its claims cite were checked for support.
The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities
Open accessAbstract
This essay examines the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for health inequalities. It outlines historical and contemporary evidence of inequalities in pandemics—drawing on international research into the Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918, the H1N1 outbreak of 2009 and the emerging international estimates of socio-economic, ethnic and geographical inequalities in COVID-19 infection and mortality rates. It then examines how these inequalities in COVID-19 are related to existing inequalities in chronic diseases and the social determinants of health, arguing that we are experiencing a syndemic pandemic . It then explores the potential consequences for health inequalities of the lockdown measures implemented internationally as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the likely unequal impacts of the economic crisis. The essay concludes by reflecting on the longer-term public health policy responses needed to ensure that the COVID-19 pandemic does not increase health inequalities for future generations.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
16 No full text of the sources · 16 Own interpretation · 12 Sources not found · 9 Partly supported · 6 Supported · 4 Not checked yet · 4 No basis given · 1 Not supported · 1 Couldn’t confirm · accuracy not yet measured
At least one cited source doesn’t support this claim or points to a different paper, and none confirmed it — see the verdicts below.
In the paper
“Similarly, access to healthcare is lower in disadvantaged and marginalised communities-even in universal healthcare systems.32”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 2. THE SYNDEMIC OF COVID-19, CHRONIC DISEASE AND THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
What the sources say
- Disputedcites [32] Todd A , Copeland A , Kasim A , et al. Access all areas? An area-level analysis of the relationship between community pharmacy and primary care distribution, urbanity and social deprivation in England. BMJ Open 2015;5:e007328. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2014-007328 sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Conclusions (page unavailable) report the opposite pattern for the access this study measured: a higher proportion of people in England’s most deprived areas live within a 20-minute walk of a GP premises. The Discussion’s principal findings likewise say GP-premises accessibility was highest in the most deprived areas. The paper measures proximity to GP premises and pharmacies, not healthcare access in general or access among all marginalised communities. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Checked by a reasoning model — may be wrong.
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Disputed
Every source the paper cites for this claim was checked and supports it.
In the paper
“and across Sweden, there were inequalities in mortality between the highest and lowest occupational classes -particularly among men.7”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 1. HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY EVIDENCE OF INEQUALITIES IN PANDEMICS
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [7] source
The Discussion reports social-class differences in excess mortality during the July 1918–June 1919 pandemic and says they were larger among men than women. The Regression results likewise identify low-skilled men as having the highest excess mortality and farmers the lowest; the paper does not claim a uniform class gradient. (LLM, conf=0.91)
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Supported
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“In contrast, countries with smaller pre-existing social and economic inequalities, such as New Zealand, did not experience any socio-economic inequalities in mortality.8 9”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 1. HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY EVIDENCE OF INEQUALITIES IN PANDEMICS
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [8] Rice G , Bryder L . Black november: the 1918 influenza pandemic in New Zealand . Christchurch: Canterbury University Press, 2005.
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Partly supportedcites [9] sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Results (Univariate results, page unavailable) show no significant trend in mortality risk by occupational class among New Zealand military personnel; the paper also reports no significant occupational-class association in its fully adjusted model. But it does not establish that New Zealand had smaller pre-existing social and economic inequalities or that the country experienced no socioeconomic inequalities in pandemic mortality. The study was restricted to New Zealand military personnel in the Northern Hemisphere, so the claim generalizes beyond its population. (LLM, conf=0.87)
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Not matched
Every source the paper cites for this claim was checked and supports it.
In the paper
“Another study found positive associations between people with financial issues (eg, financial barriers to healthcare access) and influenza-like illnesses during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic in the USA.15”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 1. HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY EVIDENCE OF INEQUALITIES IN PANDEMICS
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [15] source
The COMMENT section (page not provided) reports that respondents with financial barriers to healthcare were more likely to report influenza-like illness, even after adjustment for age, medical conditions, and employment. This directly supports the cited association in the US pandemic study. (LLM, conf=0.94)
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Supported
Every source the paper cites for this claim was checked and supports it.
In the paper
“For example, globally, Mexico experienced a higher mortality rate than that in higher-income countries.12”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 1. HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY EVIDENCE OF INEQUALITIES IN PANDEMICS
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [12] source
The Discussion states that Mexico had higher 2009 pandemic-related mortality rates than the United States, Europe, or Australia. It also compares an estimated 11.1 deaths per 100,000 in Mexico with 4 per 100,000 in the United States. (LLM, conf=0.91)
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Supported
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“Various studies on cyclical winter influenza in North America have also found associations between mortality, morbidity and symptom severity and socio-economic status among adults and children.16 17”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 1. HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY EVIDENCE OF INEQUALITIES IN PANDEMICS
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites [16] sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Discussion reports that influenza-related hospitalizations increased as neighborhood socioeconomic status decreased among adults in New Haven County across four seasons. The Introduction also reports an earlier Connecticut finding for children. These passages support an association with hospitalization, but not the claimed associations with mortality or symptom severity across North America. (LLM, conf=0.88)
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [17] source
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Partly supported
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“Similarly, old-age pensions in the UK were protected from austerity cuts after the GFC and research has suggested that this prevented health inequalities increasing amongst the older population.45”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 3. THE GREAT LOCKDOWN: THE COVID-19 ECONOMIC CRISIS AND HEALTH INEQUALITIES
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites [45] sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Background and Discussion say UK pensioners were largely protected from austerity and suggest that maintaining these benefits may explain why the mental-health gap did not widen in the study’s older cohort. The Conclusion limits that finding to an 18-month study of the most and least deprived neighbourhoods of Stockton-on-Tees; it does not establish that pension protection prevented health inequalities from increasing among the UK’s older population generally. (LLM, conf=0.85)
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Partly supported
Every source the paper cites for this claim was checked and supports it.
In the paper
“Housing is also an important factor in driving health inequalities.34”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 2. THE SYNDEMIC OF COVID-19, CHRONIC DISEASE AND THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [34] source
The Introduction describes housing and neighbourhood conditions as an upstream determinant that plays a role in health inequalities. The Abstract also calls them important social determinants of health. Together, these passages support the citing sentence's broad claim. (LLM, conf=0.93)
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Supported
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“Decades of research into the psychosocial determinants of health have found that the chronic stress of material and psychological deprivation is associated with immunosuppression.36”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 2. THE SYNDEMIC OF COVID-19, CHRONIC DISEASE AND THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites [36] sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Results report that chronic stressors, including unemployment and caregiving, were associated with reduced function on almost all immune measures examined. The Discussion describes the most chronic stressors as associated with broad immunosuppression. The paper does not establish material and psychological deprivation as distinct categories of stressor, so that specificity goes beyond its findings. (LLM, conf=0.82)
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Partly supported
Every source the paper cites for this claim was checked and supports it.
In the paper
“Likewise, there is increasing evidence that living in disadvantaged environments may produce a sense of powerlessness and collective threat among residents, leading to chronic stressors that, in time, damage health.39”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 2. THE SYNDEMIC OF COVID-19, CHRONIC DISEASE AND THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [39] source
Section 3.3 (Meso/community level theories; page not provided) states that disadvantaged living environments may produce collective threat and powerlessness, which act as chronic stressors damaging health over time. This directly supports the attributed claim. (LLM, conf=0.95)
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Supported
- It may state two separate claims as one. 21
- Probably not a substantial claim. 2
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“Housing also impacts health inequalities materially through costs (eg, as a result of high rents) and psychosocially through insecurity (eg, short-term leases).34”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 2. THE SYNDEMIC OF COVID-19, CHRONIC DISEASE AND THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites [34] sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Introduction (page unavailable) says housing tenure may affect health psychosocially: home ownership may provide greater security than renting, while debt may cause anxiety. It does not identify high rents as a material pathway or short-term leases as the source of insecurity, and it qualifies the tenure effect rather than asserting it outright. (LLM, conf=0.84)
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Partly supported
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“For example, exposure to poor quality housing is associated with certain health outcomes, for example, damp housing can lead to respiratory diseases such as asthma while overcrowding can result in higher infection rates and increased risk of injury from household accidents.34”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 2. THE SYNDEMIC OF COVID-19, CHRONIC DISEASE AND THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites [34] sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Introduction says cold and damp housing may cause or exacerbate respiratory conditions, and that some housing-related hazards can cause injuries. The Results identify overcrowding as a housing-risk category, but the passages do not link it specifically to higher infection rates or household-accident injuries. The paper also does not specifically identify asthma as an outcome of damp housing. (LLM, conf=0.87)
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Partly supported
The cited sources that could be checked couldn’t confirm or dispute this claim.
In the paper
“For example, inequalities in premature mortality and infant mortality by income and ethnicity in the USA decreased during the period of welfare expansion in the USA ('war on poverty' era 1966 to 1980), but they increased again during the Reagan-Bush period (1980-2002) when welfare services and healthcare coverage were cut.46”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 3. THE GREAT LOCKDOWN: THE COVID-19 ECONOMIC CRISIS AND HEALTH INEQUALITIES
What the sources say
- Could not verifycites [46] sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The ‘Post-treatment reduction of clinical risk’ and ‘Duration of Follow-Up’ sections discuss antimalarial treatment trials, not US mortality inequalities. Searches for premature and infant mortality by income and ethnicity, the war on poverty, and the Reagan–Bush period found no passage addressing the claimed trends. (LLM, conf=0.78)
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Could not verify
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“COVID-19 has laid bare our longstanding social, economic and political inequalities -even before the COVID-19 pandemic, life expectancy amongst the poorest groups was already declining in the UK and the USA and health inequalities in some European countries have been increasing over the last decade.50”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > CONCLUSION
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites [50] Forster T , Kentikelenis A , Bambra C . Health inequalities in Europe: setting the stage for progressive policy action, Foundation for European Progressive Studies and the Think Tank for Action on Social Change (TASC). 2018. Available https://www.feps-europe.eu/component/attachments/attachments.html?task=attachment&id=168 sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The “Healthier but Still Unequal” section (page not provided) reports widening life-expectancy gaps in Denmark and in England between 2010 and 2015, supporting the claim that health inequalities increased in some European countries before COVID-19. It does not establish that life expectancy itself declined among the poorest groups in the UK or USA; the search for that claim found no such passage. (LLM, conf=0.88)
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Partly supported
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“The international literature demonstrates that there were inequalities in prevalence and mortality rates: between high-income and low-income countries, more and less affluent neighbourhoods, higher and lower socio-economic groups, and urban and rural areas.”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 1. HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY EVIDENCE OF INEQUALITIES IN PANDEMICS
boostedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“These health impacts were not shared equally though-areas of the UK with higher unemployment rates had greater increases in suicide rates and inequalities in mental health increased with people living in the most deprived areas experiencing the largest increases in psychiatric morbidity and self-harm.43”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 3. THE GREAT LOCKDOWN: THE COVID-19 ECONOMIC CRISIS AND HEALTH INEQUALITIES
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [43] source
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The COVID-19 pandemic is occurring against a backdrop of social and economic inequalities in existing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) as well as inequalities in the social determinants of health.”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 2. THE SYNDEMIC OF COVID-19, CHRONIC DISEASE AND THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: unclear — It is unclear why the paper says it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“With regard to ethnic inequalities in COVID-19, data from England and Wales have found that people who are black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) accounted for 34.5% of 4873 critically ill COVID-19 patients (in the period ending April 16, 2020) and much higher than the 11.5% seen for viral pneumonia between 2017 and 2019.20”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 1. HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY EVIDENCE OF INEQUALITIES IN PANDEMICS
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [20] Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre . Report on COVID-19 in critical care 17 April 2020 . London: Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre, 2020.
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaincorrelationaln = 4,873- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Rests on an assumption: 14% of the population of England and Wales are from BAME backgrounds.
- Not matched
In the paper
“For example, in Chicago (in the period ending April 17, 2020), 59.2% of COVID-19 deaths were among black residents and the COVID-19 mortality rate for black Chicagoans was 34.8 per 100 000 population compared to 8.2 per 100 000 population among white residents.21”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 1. HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY EVIDENCE OF INEQUALITIES IN PANDEMICS
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [21] Chicago Department of Public Health . COVID-19 death characteristics for Chicago residents. 2020. Available https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/covid-19/home/latest-data.html (accessed 18 Apr 2020).
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“For example, lower-paid workers (where BAME groups are disproportionately represented)-particularly in the service sector (eg, food, cleaning or delivery services)-are much more likely to be designated as key workers and thereby are still required to go to work and rely on public transport for doing so.All these increase their exposure to the virus.”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 2. THE SYNDEMIC OF COVID-19, CHRONIC DISEASE AND THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Lower socio-economic groups have a higher exposure to poor quality or unaffordable, insecure housing and therefore have a higher rate of negative health consequences.35”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 2. THE SYNDEMIC OF COVID-19, CHRONIC DISEASE AND THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [35] source
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“People with existing chronic conditions (eg, cancer or cardiovascular disease (CVD)) are less likely to receive treatment and diagnosis as health services are overwhelmed by dealing with the pandemic.”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 2. THE SYNDEMIC OF COVID-19, CHRONIC DISEASE AND THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Just like the 1918 influenza pandemic (which had severe impacts on economic performance and increased poverty rates), the COVID-19 crisis will have huge economic, social and-ultimately-health consequences.”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 3. THE GREAT LOCKDOWN: THE COVID-19 ECONOMIC CRISIS AND HEALTH INEQUALITIES
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Minority ethnic groups, people living in areas of higher socioeconomic deprivation, those in poverty and other marginalised groups (such as homeless people, prisoners and street-based sex workers) generally have a greater number of coexisting NCDs, which are more severe and experienced at at a younger age.”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 2. THE SYNDEMIC OF COVID-19, CHRONIC DISEASE AND THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“For example, deprived neighbourhoods are more likely to contain houses of multiple occupation and smaller houses with a lack of outside space, as well as have higher population densities (particularly in deprived urban areas) and lower access to communal green space.27”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 2. THE SYNDEMIC OF COVID-19, CHRONIC DISEASE AND THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [27] Bambra C . Health divides: where you live can kill you . Bristol: Policy Press, 2016.
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
hedgedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
In the paper
“Previous research has found that sudden economic shocks (like the collapse of communism in the early 1990s and the global financial crisis (GFC) of 2008 41 ) lead to increases in morbidity, mental ill health, suicide and death from alcohol and substance use.”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 3. THE GREAT LOCKDOWN: THE COVID-19 ECONOMIC CRISIS AND HEALTH INEQUALITIES
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [41] Stuckler D , Basu S . The body economic. why austerity kills . London: Thomas Allen, 2013.
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“So, the health consequences of the COVID-19 economic crisis are likely to be similarly unequally distributed-exacerbating heath inequalities.”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 3. THE GREAT LOCKDOWN: THE COVID-19 ECONOMIC CRISIS AND HEALTH INEQUALITIES
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The prevalence and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic is magnified because of the pre-existing epidemics of chronic disease-which are themselves socially patterned and associated with the social determinants of health.”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 2. THE SYNDEMIC OF COVID-19, CHRONIC DISEASE AND THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Similarly, the Gypsy/Roma community-one of the most marginalised minority groups in Europe-has a smoking rate that is two to three times the European average and increased rates of respiratory diseases (such as COPD) and other COVID-19 risk factors.29”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 2. THE SYNDEMIC OF COVID-19, CHRONIC DISEASE AND THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [29] European commission . Roma health report: health status of the Roma population in the member states of the European union . Brussels: European Commission, 2014.
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
In the paper
“These will likely increase COVID-19 transmission rates-as was the case with H1N1 where strong associations were found with urbanity.13”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 2. THE SYNDEMIC OF COVID-19, CHRONIC DISEASE AND THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [13] source
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“These state-imposed restrictionsusually requiring the government to take on emergency powershave been implemented to varying levels of severity, but all have in common a significant increase in social isolation and confinement within the home and immediate neighbourhood.”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 3. THE GREAT LOCKDOWN: THE COVID-19 ECONOMIC CRISIS AND HEALTH INEQUALITIES
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“This reduced access to healthcare-before and during the outbreak -contributes to inequalities in chronic disease and is also likely to lead to worse outcomes from COVID-19 in more disadvantaged areas and marginalised communities.”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 2. THE SYNDEMIC OF COVID-19, CHRONIC DISEASE AND THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“It seems likely that there will be a post-COVID-19 global economic slumpwhich could make the health equity situation even worse, particularly if health-damaging policies of austerity are implemented again.”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > CONCLUSION
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
The paper relies on this without support.
14% of the population of England and Wales are from BAME backgrounds.
“Only 14% of the population of England and Wales are from BAME backgrounds.”
The paper relies on this without support.
Most countries failed to pursue traditional public health surveillance measures and were forced to implement lockdowns.
“While traditional public health surveillance measures of contact tracing and individual quarantine were successfully pursued by some countries (most notably by South Korea and Germany) as a way of tackling the virus in the early stages, most other countries failed to do so, and governments worldwide were eventually forced to implement mass quarantine measures -in the form of lockdowns.”
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“What we do know with more certainty is that times of crisis or periods of austerity are likely to disadvantage entire cohorts/generations [60], but that this will amplify prior forms of exclusion and marginalisation [3].”
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.
Rated minor: it would not touch a result — a value no result rests on, a p-value that stays on the same side of the significance level, or a conflict that is clerical, resolved elsewhere in the paper, or outside its own findings.
In the paper
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > CONCLUSION
“Both then and now, these inequalities have emerged through the syndemic nature of COVID-19-as it interacts with and exacerbates existing social inequalities in chronic disease and the social determinants of health.”
§ The COVID-19 pandemic and health inequalities > PART 1. HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY EVIDENCE OF INEQUALITIES IN PANDEMICS
“More recent studies have confirmed Sydenstricker's early findings: there were significant inequalities in the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic.”
Citations
Cites
Closing the gap in a generation: health equity through action on the social determinants of health
Marmot, M. G., Friel, S., Bell, R., Houweling, T. A. J., & Taylor, S. A. J. (2008) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(08)61690-6 · Cited by 8,473
Psychological stress and the human immune system: a meta-analytic study of 30 Years of inquiry
Segerstrom, S. C., & Miller, G. E. (2004) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.130.4.601 · Cited by 3,334 · cited 1×
“Decades of research into the psychosocial determinants of health have found that the chronic stresses of material and psychological deprivation is associated with immunosuppression [36].”
BackgroundAlmond, D. (2006) · Journal of Political Economy · doi:10.1086/507154 · Cited by 1,190 · cited 1×
“There is also some evidence from the USA that the pandemic had long term impacts on child health and development [11].”
BackgroundMurray, C. J., Lopez, A. D., Chin, B., Feehan, D., & Hill, K. H. (2006) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(06)69895-4 · Cited by 605 · cited 4×
“For example, India had a mortality rate 40 times higher than Denmark and the mortality rate was 20 times higher in some South American countries than in Europe.4 In Norway, mortality rates were highest among the working-class districts of Oslo5; in the USA, they were highest among the unemployed and the urban poor in…”
BackgroundInfluentialGibson, M., Petticrew, M., Bambra, C., Sowden, A. J., Wright, K. E., & Whitehead, M. (2011) · Health & Place · doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2010.09.011 · Cited by 539 · cited 2×
“Housing is also an important factor in driving health inequalities [34].”
BackgroundSelf-citationIntroduction to Syndemics: A Critical Systems Approach to Public and Community Health
Singer, M. C. (2009) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 537
(1996) · Free inquiry in creative sociology · Cited by 516
Chen, J. T., & Krieger, N. R. (2020) · Journal of Public Health Management and Practice · doi:10.1097/phh.0000000000001263 · Cited by 487
Clinical Features Predicting Mortality Risk in Patients With Viral Pneumonia: The MuLBSTA Score
Guo, L., Wei, D., Zhang, X., Wu, Y., Li, Q. Y., Zhou, M., & Qu, J. (2019) · Frontiers in Microbiology · doi:10.3389/fmicb.2019.02752 · Cited by 412
Gkiouleka, A., Huijts, T., Beckfield, J., & Bambra, C. (2018) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.01.025 · Cited by 319
Self-citation
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Lacobucci G . GPs in deprived areas face severest pressures. BMJ . 2019;365:l2104.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 701–800 of 1,981
Martínez‐Guerra, R., & Flores-Flores, J. P. (2021) · Applied Mathematics and Computation · doi:10.1016/j.amc.2021.126273 · Cited by 9
Quand la réponse mondiale à la pandémie de COVID-19 se fait sans la promotion de la santé
Cambon, L., Bergeron, H., Castel, P., Ridde, V., & Alla, F. (2021) · Global Health Promotion · doi:10.1177/17579759211015131 · Cited by 9
“stratifiés et certaines populations, du fait de leurs conditions de vie, d’emploi et de logement, sont particulièrement vulnérables (2).”
BackgroundWestern Journal of Emergency Medicine
Lam, J. (2022) · Western Journal of Emergency Medicine · doi:10.5811/westjem.2022.8.59370 · Cited by 9
The pandemic agreement: Achieving an African win for health security inequity
Ndembi, N., Dereje, N., Rahman, F., et al. (2024) · Journal of Public Health in Africa · doi:10.4102/jphia.v15i1.618 · Cited by 9
Zhu, X., & Xu, J. (2023) · Heliyon · doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e20763 · Cited by 8
“The calls for city planning to take on board preventative, adaptive and mitigating measures to help address future public health disruptions now sits firmly on the planning and city agenda [31 – 35].”
BackgroundYang, S., Wu, L., Huang, H., Zhang, L., Chen, Y., Zhou, S., Chen, X.-X., Wang, J.-F., Zhang, C.-B., & Bao, Z.-J. (2024) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-024-18639-y · Cited by 8
“Family conflict, depression, anxiety, and other emotions caused by isolation reduce collective disease tolerance and further exacerbate frailty [15].”
Background‘We’re in this together’ – COVID-19 statements by Boris Johnson: A discourse analysis
Imran, M. A., & Ahmed, Z. (2024) · Media International Australia · doi:10.1177/1329878x241248264 · Cited by 8
“Socio-economic disparities also played a pivotal role, as individuals from lower-income households, essential workers, and those residing in crowded conditions faced heightened exposure risks and limited access to essential healthcare and fi nancial resources (Bambra et al., 2020).”
Feldman, S. E., Lennox, L., Dsouza, N., & Ahmadi, K. (2024) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0312515 · Cited by 9
Exploring vulnerability amplification in regional health inequality: COVID-19 case study in Czechia
Netrdová, P., Tesárková, K. H., & Dzúrová, D. (2025) · Applied Geography · doi:10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103565 · Cited by 8
Hayre, J., Canning, E., Pearce, H., Khera, R., & Ford, J. (2026) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-025-25876-2 · Cited by 15
“Such stark inequities are not mere coincidence; reflecting entrenched social disadvantage in SDoH: limited healthcare provision, precarious employment, and suboptimal housing; conditions that amplify the risk of preventable illness [7, 8].”
Self-citationIsherwood, K. R., Kyle, R. G., Gray, B. J., & Davies, A. R. (2022) · Journal of Public Health · doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdac002 · Cited by 8
Tobacco industry: a barrier to social justice
Romeo‐Stuppy, K., Huber, L., Toebes, B., Yerger, V. B., & Senkubuge, F. (2022) · Tobacco Control · doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2021-056572 · Cited by 8
Self-Reported Anxiety in Spain: A Gendered Approach One Year After the Start of COVID-19 Pandemic
Jacques‐Aviñó, C., López‐Jiménez, T., Bennett, M., Medina‐Perucha, L., León-Gómez, B. B., & Berenguera, A. (2022) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2022.873891 · Cited by 8
“financial situation and anxiety, although there is a difference between women by education level; (3) in women, anxiety is also associated with not having Spanish nationality; and (4) in men, not identifying as heterosexual is associated with a higher risk of suffering from anxiety.”
BackgroundMethodMothering and Stress during COVID-19: Exploring the Moderating Effects of Employment
Yan, H. X., Sayer, L. C., Negraia, D. V., Rinderknecht, R. G., Doan, L., Drotning, K. J., Fish, J. N., & Buck, C. (2022) · Socius Sociological Research for a Dynamic World · doi:10.1177/23780231221103056 · Cited by 9
Halliday, E. C., Tompson, A., McGill, E., Egan, M., & Popay, J. (2022) · Journal of Public Health · doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdac146 · Cited by 8
Carretero-Bravo, J., Ramos-Fiol, B., Ortega‐Martin, E., Suárez-Lledó, V., Salazar, A., González, C. O., Dueñas, M., Peralta-Sáez, J. L., González-Caballero, J. L., Córdoba-Doña, J. A., et al. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph192416839 · Cited by 8
“The pandemic appears to have reduced the physical and mental health of people with multimorbidity [35,37], and our study shows how the situation derived from COVID-19, which has led to a social and economic crisis [2,3], may have decreased self-reported health in those individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 and…”
BackgroundThe process of developing a mental health promotion plan for the Irish health service
Walsh, Ó., Sheridan, A., & Barry, M. M. (2023) · Advances in Mental Health · doi:10.1080/18387357.2022.2161402 · Cited by 8
“The negative impacts of the pandemic on population mental health, especially for those already experiencing inequities (Bambra et al., 2020; Kelly, 2020; Salari et al., 2020; Vindegaard & Benros, 2020; Xiong et al., 2020), have underscored the urgent need to invest in a population level approach to…”
BackgroundRichards, A., Raymond‐Flesch, M., Hughes, S. D., Zhou, Y., & Koester, K. A. (2023) · Children · doi:10.3390/children10030483 · Cited by 8
“Similar difficulties have been reported in other studies investigating recruitment and engagement of minority populations into research [62].”
ResultHow the COVID-19 pandemic hit crime in Barcelona: Analysis of variation in crime trends
Díaz-Faes, D. A., Vidal-Codina, F., Segura, A., Ruíz, R. A., & Pereda, N. (2023) · European Journal of Criminology · doi:10.1177/14773708231156326 · Cited by 9
“…gaps persist in the data infrastructure, limiting the capture and description of crime trends, as well as the analysis of explanations for changes (Baumer et al., 2018), the nature of this relationship remains unclear and the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have reinforced the upward trend in…”
BackgroundSuch, E., Gardner, A., Dang, M., Wright, N., Bravo‐Balsa, L., Brotherton, V., Browne, H., Esiovwa, N., Jiménez, E., Lucas, B., et al. (2023) · Journal of Human Trafficking · doi:10.1080/23322705.2023.2194760 · Cited by 8
“This notion of an unequal burden of harms brought about by a public health emergency and existing social inequalities has been evidenced throughout other pandemics such as Spanish influenza in 1918 and H1N1 in 2009 (Bambra et al., 2020).”
Vitorino, C., Canavarro, M. C., & Carona, C. (2023) · BJPsych Advances · doi:10.1192/bja.2023.12 · Cited by 10
“However, pandemics have been described historically as unequal experiences among socially disadvantaged groups (Bambra 2020), since gender, ethnicity, class and disability determine their position in the social structure.”
BackgroundThe socioeconomic profile of alcohol use in Europe: findings from 33 European countries
Kilian, C., Manthey, J., Moskalewicz, J., Braddick, F., Matrai, S., López‐Pelayo, H., & Rehm, J. T. (2023) · The International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research · doi:10.7895/ijadr.407 · Cited by 10
Lee, R. P., Graham, P., Croft, E., et al. (2023) · Local Economy The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit · doi:10.1177/02690942231182663 · Cited by 8
“The system innovations, game-changers and narratives of change relevant to the food banks in our Northumberland-based study ranged from: the development of ‘Nourish Northumberland’, a county wide food partnership (system innovation); the impact of COVID-19 and the cost-of-living crisis on demand (gamechangers); and cr…”
InfluentialScalabrini, A., Palladini, M., Mazza, M. G., Mucci, C., Northoff, G., & Benedetti, F. (2023) · PubMed Central · doi:10.36131/cnfioritieditore20230414 · Cited by 8
“Additionally, the pandemic has highlighted existing social and economic disparities, with marginalized communities experiencing greater health and financial consequences (Bambra et al., 2020).”
BackgroundSinghal, K., & Chukkali, S. (2023) · Cogent Psychology · doi:10.1080/23311908.2023.2264669 · Cited by 8
“Moreover, it highlighted existing inequalities in the healthcare system (Bambra et al., 2020).”
BackgroundBuffel, V., Wouters, E., Cullati, S., Tancredi, S., Eekert, N. V., & de Velde, S. M. V. (2024) · Scandinavian Journal of Public Health · doi:10.1177/14034948231185938 · Cited by 8
“New health risks, such as COVID-19 and its related threats to mental health, occur in a context of existing inequalities [12, 13] and, according to the fundamental cause theory (FCT) [14], socioeco-nomically vulnerable groups will be more exposed and vulnerable to these risks, reproducing health…”
BackgroundGreen, M. A., McKee, M., Massey, J., MacKenna, B., Mehrkar, A., Bacon, S., Macleod, J., Sheikh, A., Shah, S. A., Collaborative, T. L. N., et al. (2024) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2023-077948 · Cited by 9
“Validating our chosen outcomes is necessary for understanding the importance of our findings.”
BackgroundRødseth, S. C., Høvik, H., Bjertness, E., & Skudutyte‐Rysstad, R. (2024) · Community Dentistry And Oral Epidemiology · doi:10.1111/cdoe.12960 · Cited by 8
Samari, G., Wurtz, H. M., Desai, S., & Coleman‐Minahan, K. (2024) · Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health · doi:10.1111/psrh.12260 · Cited by 8
“4,44 Describing how immigrant women’s SRH shifted in response to the structural and policy constraints of the pandemic can reveal how historically marginalized communities will be impacted by an increasingly restrictive immigration and reproductive health policy landscape in the US.”
Gottlieb, N., Jungwirth, I., Glassner, M., de Lange, T., Mantu, S., & Forst, L. S. (2025) · Globalization and Health · doi:10.1186/s12992-025-01104-9 · Cited by 9
“The COVID-19 pandemic has brought into stark relief the inequitable distribution of health risks and protections facing workers around the globe, with immigrants being among the disadvantaged [1, 2].”
Botaya, R. M., Oliván‐Blázquez, B., Ramírez-Cervantes, K. L., et al. (2021) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph18073842 · Cited by 8
“The current pandemic, like other previous pandemics, is occurring in the context of social and health inequalities that need to be resolved [39,40].”
BackgroundSong, J., Grey, C. N. B., & Davies, A. R. (2021) · Journal of Public Health · doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdab180 · Cited by 8
Maintaining Wellbeing During and After COVID-19
Conradson, D. (2021) · Global perspectives on health geography · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-70179-6_20 · Cited by 8
Henery, P., Vasileiou, E., Hainey, K., Buchanan, D., Harrison, E. M., Leyland, A. H., Alexis, T., Robertson, C., Agrawal, U., Ritchie, L. D., et al. (2021) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2021-048852 · Cited by 8
Social Determinants of Health and COVID-19 Behaviors and Beliefs Toward Immunizations Among Latinxs
Cuellar, N. G., Cuellar, M. J., McDiarmid, A., et al. (2021) · Hispanic Health Care International · doi:10.1177/15404153211020425 · Cited by 8
Friedman, J. R., Calderón-Villarreal, A., Heggebø, K., Balaj, M., Bambra, C. L., & Eikemo, T. A. (2021) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114455 · Cited by 8
Self-citationKarlsen, S., & Nelson, R. (2021) · Frontiers in Sociology · doi:10.3389/fsoc.2021.730313 · Cited by 8
“These negative experiences will, in turn, exacerbate persistent ethnic inequalities in health (Bambra et al., 2020; John et al., 2021; Maddock et al., 2021).”
BackgroundSocial Determinants and COVID-19 in a Community Health Center Cohort
Ali, M., Gasca, V., Schrier, R. D., Pensa, M. A., Brockman, A., Olson, D. P., & Oldfield, B. J. (2021) · Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health · doi:10.1007/s10903-021-01320-6 · Cited by 10
“Our findings extend the literature on the impact of social and structural determinants on SARS-CoV-2 infection [26, 27], hospitalization [28], and mortality [29, 30].”
BackgroundYu, G., Craig, D., & Fu, Y. (2022) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2022-062078 · Cited by 8
Mejía-Lancheros, C., Lachaud, J., Gogosis, E., Thulien, N. S., Stergiopoulos, V., Silva, G. D., Nisenbaum, R. A., O'Campo, P. J., & Hwang, S. W. (2022) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0278459 · Cited by 9
Yu, H., Fan, L., & Gilliland, A. J. (2022) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-022-14783-5 · Cited by 8
Allen, R., Allen, R., Castro, A. L. A., Olsen, W. K., & Islam, M. (2023) · Frontiers in Sociology · doi:10.3389/fsoc.2023.1139258 · Cited by 12
Park, S., Lee, S. H., & Blanck, H. M. (2023) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu15102363 · Cited by 8
“, unemployment or loss of income during the pandemic), which might have resulted in economic deprivation and disparities in certain populations [23,24].”
BackgroundAddressing COVID-19 health disparities through a regional community health response
Bharmal, N. H., Bailey, J., Johnson, V., Alejandro‐Rodriguez, M., Holmes, J. C., Li‐Ng, M., Modlin, C. S., & Kim, A. (2021) · Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine · doi:10.3949/ccjm.88a.ccc072 · Cited by 8
Booker, C. L., & Meads, C. (2021) · Healthcare · doi:10.3390/healthcare9080937 · Cited by 8
“The pandemic has exacerbated existing health inequalities [1,2], but there is a noticeable lack of information on sexual and gender minorities in these reports.”
Backgroundvan der Ven, L. G. L., Duinhof, E. L., Dückers, M., Jambroes, M., & van Bon-Martens, M. J. H. (2021) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph182212163 · Cited by 8
“As a result, existing health inequalities could increase even further [15].”
BackgroundThe COVID-19 Pandemic Eroded System Support But Not Social SolidarityPreprint
Bor, A., Jørgensen, F. J., & Petersen, M. B. (2021) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/qjmct · Cited by 8
Lalwani, P. J., Salgado, B. B., Filho, I. V. P., da Silva, D. S. S., de Morais, T. B. D. N., Jordão, M. F., Barbosa, A. R. C., Cordeiro, I. B., Neto, J. N. D. S., de Assunção, E. N., et al. (2021) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3774177 · Cited by 8
COVID-19 and the ecological crisis: What do they have in common?
Vogli, R. D. (2022) · Scandinavian Journal of Public Health · doi:10.1177/14034948221134339 · Cited by 8
“[15] Bambra C, Riordan R, Ford J, et al.”
BackgroundTerritories, politics and governance of the Covid-19 pandemic
Inverardi‐Ferri, C., & Brown, T. (2022) · Territory Politics Governance · doi:10.1080/21622671.2022.2129469 · Cited by 8
“Covid-19 revealed the uneven geographies of race, gender and class, while frontline workers in health and social care as well as transport and food sectors have been disproportionately exposed to risk and vulnerability (Bambra et al., 2020, 2021; Sultana, 2021).”
BackgroundPsychosocial Occupational Health—A Priority for Middle-Income Countries?
Siegrist, J. (2023) · Healthcare · doi:10.3390/healthcare11222988 · Cited by 7
“The pandemic widened social inequalities in health that dominated the spectrum of morbidity and mortality [14].”
BackgroundReducing health inequalities through general practice: a realist review and action framework
Gkiouleka, A., Wong, G., Sowden, S. L., Kuhn, I. L., Moseley, A., Manji, S., Harmston, R. R., Siersbaek, R., Bambra, C. L., & Ford, J. A. (2024) · Health and Social Care Delivery Research · doi:10.3310/ytww7032 · Cited by 8
Self-citationOdunyemi, A., Sohrabi, H. R., & Alam, K. (2024) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0296301 · Cited by 7
Mauricio, A. M., Hails, K. A., Caruthers, A. S., Connell, A. M., & Stormshak, E. A. (2024) · Prevention Science · doi:10.1007/s11121-024-01725-3 · Cited by 7
“These effects were pronounced for children struggling academically or with mental health and behavioral problems before the pandemic (Bambra et al., 2020).”
NHS must tackle racism and sexism for the benefit of patients, staff, and society
Bamrah, J., Womersley, K., Nagpaul, C., Coghill, Y., Issa, R., & Hazard, L. (2025) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.r1334 · Cited by 8
Bernal-Soriano, M. C., Barrera-Guarderas, F., Alonso-Jaquete, A., et al. (2021) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph18073391 · Cited by 7
“Therefore, adequate public policy responses are essential this time to ensure that the COVID-19 pandemic does not increase health inequalities for future generations [40].”
BackgroundEstimating the Cost of the Spanish Sustainable Food Basket through the Reference Budgets Approach
Carrillo-Álvarez, E., Muñoz-Martínez, J., Salinas-Roca, B., & Cussó-Parcerisas, I. (2021) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su13169401 · Cited by 8
Signifying the Correlation Between Urban Health, Sustainability, and Positive Peace
Cheshmehzangi, A. (2021) · Sustainable development goals series · doi:10.1007/978-981-16-4888-5_2 · Cited by 8
Satherley, R., Wolfe, I., & Lingam, R. (2021) · Health & Place · doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2021.102661 · Cited by 9
Social Obstetrics as Niche-Development in Addressing Health Inequities
Barsties, L. S., van Steenbergen, F. S., & Loorbach, D. A. (2021) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su132212814 · Cited by 7
The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Health Inequities: A Photovoice Study With Nursing Students
Díaz, E. A., González, J. S., Ruiz, M. C. S., Welch, L., Ubiergo, G. D. B., & Fuentes, N. S. (2022) · Journal of Transcultural Nursing · doi:10.1177/10436596221119484 · Cited by 7
“Vulnerable people are those whose individual characteristics and environments (e.g., age or where they live) make them less able to stay healthy (Bambra et al., 2020).”
BackgroundChoi, S. L., Hites, L., Bolland, A. C., Lee, J., Payne‐Foster, P., & Bissell, K. L. (2022) · Aging & Mental Health · doi:10.1080/13607863.2022.2149696 · Cited by 8
“…recent evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States has significantly amplified health disparities experienced by racial/ethnic minorities (Bambra et al., 2020), exploring whether telehealth access has impacted health disparities among the U.S. middle-aged and older adults is warranted.”
BackgroundLest we forget. Illuminating lived experience of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown
Hanson, S., Belderson, P., Ward, E., Naughton, F., & Notley, C. J. (2023) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116080 · Cited by 7
Miles, S., Renedo, A., Kühlbrandt, C., McGowan, C. R., Stuart, R., Grenfell, P., & Marston, C. (2023) · Sociology of Health & Illness · doi:10.1111/1467-9566.13711 · Cited by 7
Deslauriers, F., Boucher, V. G., Léger, C., Vieira, A. M., Bacon, S., & Lavoie, K. (2023) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-023-15658-z · Cited by 8
Zhilkova, A., Alsabahi, L., Olson, D. R., et al. (2024) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0301481 · Cited by 7
Zhou, C., Wheelock, Å. M., Zhang, C., Ma, J., Li, Z., Liang, W., Gao, J., & Xu, L. (2024) · Population Health Metrics · doi:10.1186/s12963-024-00330-4 · Cited by 9
Gao, Y., Zeng, J., Liao, Z., & Yang, J. (2024) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2024.1359609 · Cited by 15
SARS-CoV-2 transmission in a highly vulnerable population of Brazil: a household cohort study
Coelho, L. E., Luz, P. M., Castanheira, D., Jalil, E. M., Perazzo, H., Torres, T. S., Cardoso, S. W., Peixoto, E. M., Nazer, S., Massad, E., et al. (2024) · The Lancet Regional Health - Americas · doi:10.1016/j.lana.2024.100824 · Cited by 7
“30,44 The role of Federal leadership (presidential term 2019 – 2022) in antagonizing the protective bene fi ts of lockdown and non-pharmacological interventions had deleterious effects on individuals ’ behavior.”
BackgroundDo primary care quality improvement frameworks consider equity?
Barrell, A. M., Johnson, L., Lunn, A. D., & Ford, J. A. (2024) · BMJ Open Quality · doi:10.1136/bmjoq-2024-002839 · Cited by 7
“AMB identified the documents, analysed the text and wrote the first draft of the manuscript.”
BackgroundSelf-citationDan, S., Jin, W.-Y., Li, F., Zeng, Y., Xie, R.-L., Yang, C.-L., Zeng, Q.-J., Chen, Y., Wang, H.-W., Linehan, C., et al. (2025) · Med Research · doi:10.1002/mdr2.70013 · Cited by 7
Lazarus, J. V., Palayew, A., Rabin, K. H., Wyka, K., Hajo, S., Ratzan, S. C., Fielding, J. E., & El-Mohandes, A. A. E. (2021) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-047310 · Cited by 8
Why Green and Blue Spaces Matter More Than Ever
Foley, R., & Garrido‐Cumbrera, M. (2021) · Global perspectives on health geography · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-70179-6_37 · Cited by 9
McKinley, J. M., Cutting, D., Anderson, N., Graham, C., Johnston, B., Mueller, U. A., Atkinson, P. M., Woerden, H. V., Bradley, D., & Kee, F. (2021) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-048333 · Cited by 7
Xie, X., Wu, T., Zhang, Y., & Guo, Y. (2021) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph182010888 · Cited by 7
“Although the impact of COVID-19 on individuals’ lives is not equally distributed among SES [11,12], studies observed inconsistent results on hether lo er SES individuals feel more negative emotions.”
BackgroundResultAfkar, M., Asl, P. R., Hezaveh, A. M., et al. (2021) · Scientific Journal of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences · doi:10.52547/sjku.26.5.33 · Cited by 7
Constituting good health citizenship through British Columbia’s COVID-19 public updates
Spoel, P. M., Lacelle, N., & Millar, A. (2021) · Health An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health Illness and Medicine · doi:10.1177/13634593211064115 · Cited by 9
“Implicitly, it excludes citizens living and working in unsafe or precarious socio-economic circumstances and within structures of racism, gender discrimination, ageism, and other forms of social inequity which impede individual agency over personal behavior (Bambra et al., 2020).”
BackgroundInequalities exacerbated: an all-too-familiar story
Stokes, J. (2022) · BMJ Quality & Safety · doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2021-014422 · Cited by 7
Kadakia, S., Stratton, C., Wu, Y., Feliciano, J. T., & Tuakli‐Wosornu, Y. A. (2022) · JMIR Formative Research · doi:10.2196/34176 · Cited by 7
“In this sense, the COVID-19 crisis has further exposed and exacerbated pre-existing social inequities such as disability stigma and ableist attitudes [36-38].”
BackgroundPochintesta, P., & Oddone, M. J. (2021) · Anthropologica · doi:10.18800/anthropologica.202102.011 · Cited by 7
Socioeconomic Inequalities in COVID-19 Incidence During Different Epidemic Phases in South Korea
Yoo, D., Hwang, M., Chun, B. C., et al. (2022) · Frontiers in Medicine · doi:10.3389/fmed.2022.840685 · Cited by 7
“Historically, disadvantaged people have been highly vulnerable to emerging infectious diseases, especially when they become a persistent epidemic (5).”
BackgroundSocial pathologies and urban pathogenicity: Moving towards better pandemic futures
Atuk, T., & Craddock, S. (2022) · Urban Studies · doi:10.1177/00420980221079462 · Cited by 8
“…deleterious physical and psychological effects of chronic everyday insults and systemic racism including police brutality, higher incarceration rates and job-related exposures to toxins (Bambra et al., 2020; Gould and Wilson, 2020; Krieger, 2014; Williams and Mohammed, 2009; Williams et al., 2019).”
BackgroundCheung, D. C., Bremner, K. E., Tsui, T. C. O., Croxford, R., Lapointe‐Shaw, L., Giudice, L. D., Mendlowitz, A. B., Perlis, N., Pataky, R. E., Teckle, P., et al. (2022) · Value in Health · doi:10.1016/j.jval.2022.03.019 · Cited by 9
“07 n/a n/a Median (IQR) 6 (1-18) 7 (1-20) 0.”
Silva, B. R. O., Rodrigues, W. F., Abadia, D. G. P., da Silva, D. A. A., Andrade-Silva, L. E., Desidério, C. S., Farnesi-de-Assunção, T. S., Costa-Madeira, J. C., Barbosa, R. M., Borges, A. V. B. E., et al. (2022) · Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology · doi:10.3389/fcimb.2022.899702 · Cited by 7
“In addition to infection and mortality factors, the pandemic death rates are associated with the lack of financial and structural support in the affected countries and insufficient public policies that contradict the health measures required for reducing mortality in the population (Ataguba and Ataguba, 2020; Bambra e…”
BackgroundPrevalência de anticorpos contra SARS-CoV-2 em Mato Grosso, Brasil: pesquisa de base populacional
de Oliveira, E. C., Terças‐Trettel, A. C. P., Andrade, A. C. D. S., Muraro, A. P., dos Santos, E. S., Espinosa, M. M., & Musis, C. R. D. (2022) · Cadernos de Saúde Pública · doi:10.1590/0102-311xpt093021 · Cited by 7
Factors Associated with Delayed Diagnosis among Patients with COVID-19 in Okinawa, Japan
Oiwake, H. Y., Nonaka, D., & Toyosato, T. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph19148634 · Cited by 7
“Socioeconomic disparities in health, including infectious diseases [38], are associated with public health strategies, which must consider them.”
Backgroundda Silva, V. R., Pacheco, E. S., Cardoso, O. D. O., Lima, L. H. D. O., Rodrigues, M. T. P., & Mascarenhas, M. D. M. (2022) · Epidemiologia e Serviços de Saúde · doi:10.1590/s2237-96222022000200022 · Cited by 7
Balaganesh, S., Balasubramaniam, A., Indiran, M. A., Rathinavelu, P. K., & Kumar, S. (2022) · Journal of Oral Biology and Craniofacial Research · doi:10.1016/j.jobcr.2022.09.005 · Cited by 8
Santa-Ramírez, H.-A., Wisniak, A., Pullen, N., Zaballa, M.-E., Pennacchio, F., Lorthe, E., Dumont, R., Baysson, H., Guessous, I., & Stringhini, S. (2022) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2022.874252 · Cited by 8
“Socioeconomically disadvantaged populations are also known to have a higher burden of chronic diseases and reduced access to healthcare (7), both risk factors for COVID-19 severity (8).”
BackgroundGama, A. F., Marques, M. J., Rocha, J. V., Lopes, S. A., Kinaan, W., Machado, A. S., & Dias, S. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph192013201 · Cited by 7
“Furthermore, evidence shows that the pandemic has affected populations asymmetrically, potentially accentuating inequalities [14].”
BackgroundEsteve‐Matalí, L., Llorens, C., Alonso, J., Vilagut, G., Moncada, S., & Navarro, A. (2022) · Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health · doi:10.1136/jech-2022-219523 · Cited by 7
Changes in mean and variance of ophthalmic disease incidences during COVID-19 pandemic in Korea
Choi, H. G., Kim, S. Y., & Baek, S. U. (2022) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-022-24975-z · Cited by 8
Determinants of COVID-19 cases and deaths in OECD countries
Tekerek, B., Günaltay, M. M., ÖZLER, G., et al. (2023) · Journal of Public Health · doi:10.1007/s10389-023-01820-9 · Cited by 7
“It has been demonstrated by international studies that socioeconomic inequalities have an important effect on death rates in the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic, the 2009 H1N1 epidemic, and the COVID-19 epidemic (Bambra et al. 2020).”
The Frontlines and Margins: Gendered Care and Covid-19 in the Indian Media
Raman, U., & Kasturi, S. (2023) · Media and Communication · doi:10.17645/mac.v11i1.6104 · Cited by 7
Fernández, D., Giné-Vázquez, I., Morena, M., Koyanagi, A., Janko, M., Haro, J. M., Panagiotakos, D. B., Molassiotis, A., Pan, W., & Tyrovolas, S. (2023) · Scandinavian Journal of Public Health · doi:10.1177/14034948231156969 · Cited by 7
“the collective effectiveness of these interventions is empirically unknown, particularly in regions with different reasons for and levels of population vulnerability [11] (e.”
BackgroundLunnay, B., Warin, M. J., Foley, K. M., & Ward, P. (2023) · Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks · doi:10.1108/978-1-80382-323-220231006 · Cited by 7
Zhou, C., Wheelock, Å. M., Zhang, C., Ma, J., Dong, K., Pan, J., Li, Z., Liang, W., Gao, J., & Xu, L. (2023) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1150095 · Cited by 7
“010), mainly in Asia and Africa; and (2) Countries with lower age-adjusted CFRs than crude CFRs (n = 23, median age-adjusted and crude CFRs: 0.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialBambra, C. L., Munford, L. A., Khavandi, S., & Bennett, N. C. (2023) · Policy Press eBooks · doi:10.56687/9781447369233 · Cited by 7
Self-citationResponding to global emergencies: what has the role of nurses been and what can it be in the future?
Wootton, M., & Davidson, L. (2023) · Clinics in Integrated Care · doi:10.1016/j.intcar.2023.100166 · Cited by 5
Foláyan, M. O., Yakusik, A., Enemo, A., Sunday, A., Muhammad, A., Nyako, H. Y., Abdullah, R. M., Okiwu, H., & Lamontagne, E. (2023) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-023-16482-1 · Cited by 8
“The COVID-19 pandemic reportedly creates new and exacerbates pre-existing inequality, including in Nigeria [35–39].”
Background
Metadata
- Authors
- Bambra, C., Riordan, R., Ford, J., & Matthews, F.
- Affiliations
- Newcastle University (GB)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Bambra, Clare
- Venue
- Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Published
- 2020-06-13
- Volume
- 74
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 964-968
- ISSN
- 0141-7681 (ISSN-L)
- 0143-005X
- 1470-2738
- PMC
- PMC7298201
- OpenAlex
- W3034285292
- Cited by
- 2,118
- References
- 48
- Citations by year
- 2026: 216 · 2025: 196 · 2024: 298 · 2023: 364 · 2022: 508 · 2021: 454 · 2020: 80
- FWCI
- 174.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Repository@Hull (Worktribe) (University of Hull) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
- Newcastle University ePrints (Newcastle Univesity)
- Funders
- National Institute for Health Research (NIHR200173)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Public Health and Social Inequalities
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare Systems and Challenges
- Keywords
- COVID-19 pandemic, health disparities, syndemic, social determinants of health, socioeconomic disparities, ethnic inequality, regional disparities, economic impact of lockdown, public health policy
- MeSH terms
- Betacoronavirus, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Humans, Pneumonia, Viral, Socioeconomic Factors, Coronavirus Infections, Health Status Disparities, Healthcare Disparities, Pandemics, Social Determinants of Health
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-10-11, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).
A second model labelled each claim on 2026-10-11 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).
Cited sources are checked with a language model’s help (gpt-6-sol).
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review