BACKGROUND Health equity is a multidimensional concept that has been internationally considered as an essential element for health system development. However, our understanding about the root causes of health equity is limited. In this study, we investigated the historical roots and seminal works of research on health equity. METHODS Health equity-related publications were identified and downloaded from the Web of Science database (n = 67,739, up to 31 October 2018). Their cited references (n = 2,521,782) were analyzed through Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy (RPYS), which detected the historical roots and important works on health equity and quantified their impact in terms of referencing frequency. RESULTS A total of 17 pronounced peaks and 31 seminal works were identified. The first publication on health equity appeared in 1966. But the first cited reference can be traced back to 1801. Most seminal works were conducted by researchers from the US (19, 61.3%), the UK (7, 22.6%) and the Netherlands (3, 9.7%). Research on health equity experienced three important historical stages: origins (1800-1965), formative (1966-1991) and development and expansion (1991-2018). The ideology of health equity was endorsed by the international society through the World Health Organization (1946) declaration based on the foundational works of Chadwick (1842), Engels (1945), Durkheim (1897) and Du Bois (1899). The concept of health equity originated from the disciplines of public health, sociology and political economics and has been a major research area of social epidemiology since the early nineteenth century. Studies on health equity evolved from evidence gathering to the identification of cost-effective policies and governmental interventions. CONCLUSION The development of research on health equity is shaped by multiple disciplines, which has contributed to the emergence of a new stream of social epidemiology and political epidemiology. Past studies must be interpreted in light of their historical contexts. Further studies are needed to explore the causal pathways between the social determinants of health and health inequalities.

中文翻译：

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健康公平的历史根源和开创性研究：参考出版年光谱（RPYS）分析。

背景 健康公平是一个多维概念，国际上已将其视为卫生系统发展的基本要素。然而，我们对健康公平的根本原因的理解是有限的。在这项研究中，我们调查了健康公平研究的历史根源和开创性工作。方法 从 Web of Science 数据库中识别并下载与健康公平相关的出版物（n = 67,739，截至 2018 年 10 月 31 日）。他们引用的参考文献（n = 2,521,782）通过参考文献出版年份光谱（RPYS）进行了分析，该光谱检测了健康公平的历史根源和重要著作，并根据参考频率量化了它们的影响。结果 总共确定了 17 个明显的高峰和 31 个开创性的作品。第一篇关于健康公平的出版物出现于 1966 年。但第一个引用的参考文献可以追溯到 1801 年。大多数开创性的工作是由来自美国 (19, 61.3%)、英国 (7, 22.6%) 和荷兰的研究人员进行的(3, 9.7%)。健康公平研究经历了三个重要的历史阶段：起源（1800-1965年）、形成期（1966-1991年）和发展拓展（1991-2018年）。健康公平的理念通过基于查德威克（1842）、恩格斯（1945）、涂尔干（1897）和杜波依斯（1899）基础著作的世界卫生组织（1946）宣言得到了国际社会的认可。健康公平的概念起源于公共卫生、社会学和政治经济学等学科，自19世纪初以来一直是社会流行病学的主要研究领域。健康公平的研究从证据收集发展到确定具有成本效益的政策和政府干预措施。结论 健康公平研究的发展是由多个学科共同推动的，这促成了社会流行病学和政治流行病学新流的出现。过去的研究必须根据其历史背景来解释。需要进一步研究来探索健康的社会决定因素与健康不平等之间的因果关系。