HOW MUCH OF THE DISABILITY-RELATED INEQUALITIES IN HEALTH AND WELL-BEING ARE MEDIATED BY BARRIERS TO PARTICIPATION FACED BY PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES? A CAUSAL MEDIATION ANALYSIS USING LONGITUDINAL DATA FROM WORKING AGE PEOPLE WITH AND WITHOUT DISABILITIES IN GREAT BRITAIN

Abstract

Large health inequalities exist between people with and without disabilities, including many health conditions unrelated to the impairment causing the disability. There is some evidence that these health inequalities are, in part, due to the poor socio-economic circumstances experienced by people with disabilities, and therefore are amenable to public health intervention. In this study, we used a unique dataset to examine the relationship between disability acquisition and subsequent health outcomes using five different measures of health and wellbeing. We quantified the extent to which social barriers to participation explained the health inequalities between people with and without disabil..