The pension reform of 1948 and its potential effect on health for older adults in Sweden during the middle of the 20th century : A description of the pension reforms in the eldercare between the years of 1913 and 1948 in Sweden, and the potential effect o

Abstract: Background: In 1946, a proposal was made for a law on national pensions with the aim of reforming the pension system and giving pensioners better finances, which later was implemented at 1948. The theory of the social determinants of health suggests that income is an important factor that has an impact on health. The study aim was therefore to investigate whether the general pension reform implemented in 1948 could account for any differences in death rates for those aged 67 and older, and the research question was to examine if there was change in death rates for those aged 67 and older after 1948 that could be explained by an increase in income from the pension reform  Method: The study design was a quantitative inductive method. Data used in the study was death rates for those aged 67-90 years in Sweden between 1933-1962, as well as statistics from the Statistical Yearbook for Sweden to obtain data on income from the pension system. To investigate whether the pension reform has had any significant effects on the health of people of old ages, an interrupted time series analysis was used to measure changes in death rates for those aged 67-90 years between 1933 and 1962 in Sweden.  Results and conclusion: The results showed that there was an increase in the average pension by 461% for men and 442% for women between the years of 1947 and 1948. The study suggests that for women there was a significant change in death rates since the reform started, but that the reform of 1948 might not have had a significant effect on men’s death rates. Overall my study indicates that the changes in death rates for women in the pension age in 1948 and after could be explained by an increase in income from the pension reform, and that the pension reform seems to be a sustained policy effect that have accumulated over time.