Does social mobility influence health status? A systematic review

Abstract

Background: In the debate on the determinants of social class variation in health, it has been suggested that social mobility and associated factors play an important role in this variation. Social mobility describes changes or stability between social class positions. The aim of this paper was to identify studies on the association between social mobility and health.

Methods: The databases consulted were MEDLINE/PubMed, Cochrane, SciELO, CRD. The keywords used (in English), through the MeSH methodology, were: Health (MajorTerm), Class mobility, Vertical mobility, Social position, Socioeconomic factors, Social class, Social conditions, Social environment, Poverty and Social marginalisation (MeSHTerm). The search period was from January 2010 to December 2019. The STROBE statement has been used to develop the checklist. Finally, the evaluation of the studies has been carried out by means of a qualitative systematic review.

Results: The search identified 1,092 potentially relevant studies. After analysis, 376 studies were retained and their full texts were reviewed in depth, resulting in a final set of 42 studies. Of these, 2 studies were identified on Class Mobility and Health; 5 studies were also identified on Poverty and Health, showing evidence of effect on Health by Social Mobility; 9 studies on Social Class and Health, showing effect of Social Mobility on Health and 8 studies showing effect of Social Position on Health.

Conclusions: Social mobility measures convey additional information to that of poverty indices. Using indices of social position and their impact on health inequalities could be empirically useful. More research is needed on this issue.