Background

This review identified and examined published evidence of effective interventions that prevent or postpone the development of disability, relating to long-term conditions. It considered only evidence that included a measure of socio-economic status to allowed the team to comment on the relative impact among different groups.

The team focused on a small number of conditions that are a major source of morbidity and mortality, and only looked at interventions that were recommended in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance. Information on outcomes by socioeconomic status were identified and summarised. The plan was to focus on osteoarthritis, depression, and type 2 diabetes.

Aims and objectives

This project aimed to produce estimates of the size of effects needed to narrow the gap in Disability Free Life Expectancy between richest and poorest in the UK, and estimate the intervention size required and time frame to make an impact.

The objectives were:

1. To estimate the effect size to reduce inequalities in DFLE, under a range of different scenarios
2. To undertake methodological development work to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on life expectancy and DFLE
3. To understand the impact of inequalities on long-term conditions after adjustment for COVID-19

Resources and further information 

• How to narrow the gap in disability with a focus on long-term conditions: an evidence synthesis review protocol (PDF)
• How to narrow the gap in disability free life expectancy between rich and poor, with a focus on long-term conditions: a rapid evidence synthesis: Executive Summary (PDF) Full Report (PDF)
• Kunonga et al. (2023) – Health interventions and the unseen impact on equality (The Lancet Healthy Longevity) DOI: 10.1016/S2666-7568(22)00268-9

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