Nutritional status of the social class groups.

There is a marked increase in mortality and morbidity with decreasing social class status so that the death rate of adult males in social class V is twice that of men in social class I. Differences in nutritional status between the social classes could account for this phenomenon. In this survey the nutritional status of 254 consecutive adult admissions to a teaching hospital was assessed by anthropometric and biochemical measurements and delayed hypersensitivity skin tests. No significant difference in nutritional status was detected between the five social class groups. There was no significant difference between the combined social class groups I and II compared with IV and V. A similar result was obtained with the same assessment of 167 fit adult individuals of comparable age and sex distribution living in the community. There is no significant difference in nutritional status between the social classes when they are well or ill and therefore the differences in mortality and morbidity in lower social classes are unlikely to be caused by inadequate nutrition.