Ecob, R. & Jones, K. J. Mortality variation in England and Wales between types of place: an analysis of the ONS longitudinal study. Social Science and Medicine. Vol 47,12,2055-2066.

There has been some recent debate, particularly recently, on whether there is an additional effect of 'area' on mortality in addition to characteristics of individuals and households. A particularly strong pro-individual position, for example, was taken by Sloggett and Joshi (1994). This analysis, on the same data set as theirs, namely the ONS longitudinal study, relating 1971 census to subsequent deaths in the period to the end of 1985, gives a different result. For both males and females, a particular type of place (as indicated by the Craig-Webber code for the particular ward) has excess or reduced mortality. In addition, for males, the effects of individual social class varies according to the percent professional in the Craig Webber type and, for females, the effect of being a car owner varies according to the proportion of households in the Craig-Webber type with access to a car. The pattern for females and males also differs, for males greater differentiation in mortality by social class being associated with greater affluence of area and in females, for differences between car owners and not, being associated with lower levels of car ownership in the area. Differences between results between the two studies are attributed in part to the greater wealth of information on area contained in the, multi-dimensional, Craig-Webber area classification.