Aims of the project

General:

- describe maternal and child health and health care inequalities across socioeconomic groups in the Pelotas Birth Cohorts and ALSPAC populations.

Specific:

- identify and measure inequalities in maternal and child health and health care indicators

- compare inequalities in maternal and child health and health care indicators between the Pelotas Birth Cohorts and ALSPAC populations

- identify inequalities among racial/ethnic groups in the Pelotas Birth Cohort studies

- examine changes and trends in inequalities over time in the three Pelotas Birth Cohorts studies

- make recommendations on how to monitor and prevent inequalities

The general research question to be addressed is whether inequalities in maternal and child health and health care have similar magnitude and distribution among socioeconomic groups in ALSPAC and the Pelotas Birth Cohort studies, which belong to populations from high and middle-income countries respectively.

Specific questions include:

- Which are the best predictor variables for inequalities in each setting?

- Which health outcomes show the greatest variability among social groups?

- Is there evidence of racial/ethnic inequalities in the Pelotas Birth Cohort studies?

- Which are the main factors that generate maternal and child health inequalities?

- Is there evidence that inequalities are increasing over time in the Pelotas Birth Cohort studies?

- What can health services do to help reduce inequalities in each setting?