Society Inhaled. Social Epidemiology of COPD

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a common disease that in its advanced stages is a life-limiting condition and a leading cause of death globally. This thesis aims at increasing the understanding of the socioeconomic disparities that exist both for COPD and its major risk factor, tobacco smoking. A related aim is to advance the theory and epidemiological methods used to evaluate equity in health and health care. In concrete terms, the thesis discusses absolute versus relative measures of income and applies Analysis of Individual Heterogeneity and Discriminatory Accuracy (AIHDA) within an intersectional framework.