Abstract
The magnitude of educational inequalities in mortality avoidable by medical care in 16 European populations was compared, and the contribution of inequalities in avoidable mortality to educational inequalities in life expectancy in Europe was determined. For each country, the association between level of education and avoidable mortality was measured with the use of regression-based inequality indexes.
Life table analysis was used to calculate the contribution of avoidable causes of death to inequalities in life expectancy between lower and higher educated groups.