A new University of Otago study, using information partly gleaned from 1918 military records, shows that New Zealanders from lower-income backgrounds die significantly earlier than people with better-paid professional jobs.
Prof Nick Wilson, of the public health department at University of Otago's Wellington campus, said Otago researchers had identified evidence of socio-economic inequalities resulting in different death rates in New Zealand 100 years ago.
The study of 2406 military personnel found that men in the highest occupational
classes, including company managers, doctors and teachers, lived on average 3.5 years longer than those in the three lowest classes, including mechanics and labourers.
Prof Wilson is the first author in the study, recently published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.
This study was the first to suggest differences in death rates by socio-economic position in New Zealand before the 1960s.
New Zealand had sometimes been considered an egalitarian ''paradise'' on earth, but the new findings showed persistent, long-standing differences in mortality rates, even within Pakeha males.
The study made an ''important'' further contribution to the continuing national debate about how best to tackle social inequalities and deal with child poverty, Prof Wilson said in an interview.
Low socio-economic position had been identified internationally as the third-most important risk factor for premature death.
Some of these issues were being dealt with by the new Government, especially with its ''focus on reducing child poverty'', he said.
To improve the situation, he highlighted the need to reduce ethnic inequalities, reform tax and welfare policies, and
tackle health issues such as tobacco use and obesity.
The second part of the Otago study used a group of 2406 men who were recruited late in World War 1 but did not go into combat in 1918 because the war had already ended.
This second study showed the 3.5-year lifespan disparity.
More recent data shows that, in New Zealand, differences in life expectancy between high and low income groups were 6.5 years for men and 4.7 years for women.
In Maori versus non-Maori, the differences in outcome were even more marked. The life-span difference was 7.4 years among males and 7.2 years for females, he said.
