Policy Points

• Income is thought to impact a broad range of health outcomes. However, whether income inequality (how unequal the distribution of income is in a population) has an additional impact on health is extensively debated.
• Studies that use multilevel data, which have recently increased in popularity, are necessary to separate the contextual effects of income inequality on health from the effects of individual income on health.
• Our systematic review found only small associations between income inequality and poor self-rated health and all-cause mortality. The available evidence does not suggest causality, although it remains methodologically flawed and limited, with very few studies using natural experimental approaches or examining income inequality at the national level.

中文翻译：

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收入不平等对自评健康和全因死亡率的因果评估：系统回顾和荟萃分析

政策要点

• 人们认为收入会影响广泛的健康结果。然而，收入不平等（人口中收入分配的不平等程度）是否对健康产生额外影响存在广泛争议。
• 使用多层次数据的研究最近越来越受欢迎，有必要将收入不平等对健康的背景影响与个人收入对健康的影响分开。
• 我们的系统审查发现，收入不平等与不良自评健康状况和全因死亡率之间只有很小的关联。现有证据并未表明因果关系，尽管它在方法上仍然存在缺陷和有限，很少有研究使用自然实验方法或考察国家层面的收入不平等。