Socioeconomic status can affect life expectancy, says a Virginia Commonwealth University researcher in a recently published study. People who live in areas with lower household incomes are much more likely to die because of their personal and household characteristics and their community surroundings. Areas with high household incomes also tend to have better schools, a different racial and social mix and healthier community conditions, naturally leading to better lifestyle.
In the study to be published in the American Journal of Public Health, researchers analysed census data and vital statistics from Virginia counties and cities between 1990 and 2006. They demonstrated that one out of four deaths would have been averted if the mortality rates of Virginia's five most affluent counties and cities had existed statewide. In some of the most disadvantaged areas of the state, nearly half of the deaths would have been averted.
The researchers said that Virginia is an excellent place to explore the connection between health and median household income. There are communities in Northern Virginia with some of the highest incomes in the nation and there are areas of the state, such as the Appalachian Southwest, Southside, the Middle Peninsula and the Eastern Shore, with high poverty and low high school graduation rates.
Their studies showed that the places with deep poverty, large minority populations and lower educational achievement levels had high mortality rates in comparison with high household incomes.
The results were especially timely during the current recession. Typically, economy, jobs and education are thought of as separate issues, but it needs to be realised that they are deeply connected. Social care is health policy, probably saving more lives than anything done in health care, suggest the authors.
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