Do the Wealthy Have a Health Advantage? An Investigation of Wealth as a Measure of Socioeconomic Status

Background: In the health literature, wealth is often overlooked as a measure of socioeconomic status. Objectives: We explored the association between wealth and various health outcomes, namely: hypertension, obesity, smoking, self-reported general health status (GHS) and mortality. Methods: We used data from the Panel Survey of Income Dynamics (PSID), a longitudinal study of a nationally representative US population. PSID data from 1984 to 2005 were used to evaluate the association between wealth and mortality and GHS and data from 1999 to 2005 to explore the relationship between wealth and hypertension, smoking and obesity. Inverse probability weights were employed to handle time-varying confounding and to estimate both relative and absolute measures of effect. Wealth was defined as inflation adjusted net worth and specified as a 6 category variable: a category for those with less than or equal to 0 wealth and 5 quintiles of positive wealth. Results: In the fully adjusted model, the risk of becoming obese was inversely related to wealth; there was a 40% to 89% higher risk of becoming obese and 11 to 25 excess cases of obesity (per 1000 persons) among the less wealthy groups relative to the wealthiest quintile. Smoking initiation had a similar but more moderate effect, while hypertension incidence had a weak association with wealth, showing fewer excess cases (between 4 and 9) among the less wealthy groups. There was a 17% to 54% higher risk of falling into poor health and 6 to 22 excess cases of poor health (per 1000 persons) among the 4 less wealthy groups relative to the wealthiest quintile. The overall wealth-mortality association revealed between a 25% and 83% increased risk and between 2 and 5 excess cases of death (per 1000) among the less wealthy compared to the wealthiest. Conclusion: There is a strong inverse association between wealth and incidence of obesity, poor health status and mortality, a moderate inverse association between wealth and smoking initiation and a weak inverse association between wealth and hypertension incidence. Wealth is a useful measure of SES and should be considered by future health researchers

Early-Life Air Pollution Exposure, Neighborhood Poverty, and Childhood Asthma in the United States, 1990⁻2014.

Ambient air pollution is a well-known risk factor of various asthma-related outcomes, however, past research has often focused on acute exacerbations rather than asthma development. This study draws on a population-based, multigenerational panel dataset from the United States to assess the association of childhood asthma risk with census block-level, annual-average air pollution exposure measured during the prenatal and early postnatal periods, as well as effect modification by neighborhood poverty. Findings suggest that early-life exposures to nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), a marker of traffic-related pollution, and fine particulate matter (PM2.5), a mixture of industrial and other pollutants, are positively associated with subsequent childhood asthma diagnosis (OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.10⁻1.41 and OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.06⁻1.46, respectively, per interquartile range (IQR) increase in each pollutant (NO₂ IQR = 8.51 ppb and PM2.5 IQR = 4.43 µ/m³)). These effects are modified by early-life neighborhood poverty exposure, with no or weaker effects in moderate- and low- (versus high-) poverty areas. This work underscores the importance of a holistic, developmental approach to elucidating the interplay of social and environmental contexts that may create conditions for racial-ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in childhood asthma risk

Circadian rhythm of cortisol and neighborhood characteristics in a population-based sample: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

Although stress is often hypothesized to contribute to the effects of neighborhoods on health, very few studies have investigated associations of neighborhood characteristics with stress biomarkers. This study helps address the gap in the literature by examining whether neighborhood characteristics are associated with cortisol profiles. Analyses were based on data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis Stress study which collected multiple measures of salivary cortisol over three days on a population based sample of approximately 800 adults. Multilevel models with splines were used to examine associations of cortisol with neighborhood poverty, violence, disorder, and social cohesion. Neighborhood violence was significantly associated with lower cortisol values at wakeup and with a slower decline in cortisol over the earlier part of the day, after sociodemographic controls. Associations were weaker and less consistent for neighborhood poverty, social cohesion, and disorder. Results revealed suggestive, though limited, evidence linking neighborhood contexts to cortisol circadian rhythms

Smoking Practices in New York City: The Use of a Population-Based Survey to Guide Policy-Making and Programming

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Individual and Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status and the Association between Air Pollution and Cardiovascular Disease

BACKGROUND: Long-term fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure is linked with cardiovascular disease, and disadvantaged status may increase susceptibility to air pollution-related health effects. In addition, there are concerns that this association may be partially explained by confounding by socioeconomic status (SES). OBJECTIVES: We examined the roles that individual- and neighborhood-level SES (NSES) play in the association between PM2.5 exposure and cardiovascular disease. METHODS: The study population comprised 51,754 postmenopausal women from the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study. PM2.5 concentrations were predicted at participant residences using fine-scale regionalized universal kriging models. We assessed individual-level SES and NSES (Census-tract level) across several SES domains including education, occupation, and income/wealth, as well as through an NSES score, which captures several important dimensions of SES. Cox proportional-hazards regression adjusted for SES factors and other covariates to determine the risk of a first cardiovascular event. RESULTS: A 5 μg/m3 higher exposure to PM2.5 was associated with a 13% increased risk of cardiovascular event [hazard ratio (HR) 1.13; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.02, 1.26]. Adjustment for SES factors did not meaningfully affect the risk estimate. Higher risk estimates were observed among participants living in low-SES neighborhoods. The most and least disadvantaged quartiles of the NSES score had HRs of 1.39 (95% CI: 1.21, 1.61) and 0.90 (95% CI: 0.72, 1.07), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Women with lower NSES may be more susceptible to air pollution-related health effects. The association between air pollution and cardiovascular disease was not explained by confounding from individual-level SES or NSES. Citation: Chi GC, Hajat A, Bird CE, Cullen MR, Griffin BA, Miller KA, Shih RA, Stefanick ML, Vedal S, Whitsel EA, Kaufman JD. 2016. Individual and neighborhood socioeconomic status and the association between air pollution and cardiovascular disease. Environ Health Perspect 124:1840-1847; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/EHP199

Inferential challenges when assessing racial/ethnic health disparities in environmental research.

Numerous epidemiologic studies have documented environmental health disparities according to race/ethnicity (R/E) to inform targeted interventions aimed at reducing these disparities. Yet, the use of R/E under the potential outcomes framework implies numerous underlying assumptions for epidemiologic studies that are often not carefully considered in environmental health research. In this commentary, we describe the current state of thinking about the interpretation of R/E variables in etiologic studies. We then discuss how such variables are commonly used in environmental epidemiology. We observed three main uses for R/E: i) as a confounder, ii) as an effect measure modifier and iii) as the main exposure of interest either through descriptive analysis or under a causal framework. We identified some common methodological concerns in each case and provided some practical solutions. The use of R/E in observational studies requires particular cautions in terms of formal interpretation and this commentary aims at providing a practical resource for future studies assessing racial/ethnic health disparities in environmental research

Work, Health, and the Ongoing Pursuit of Health Equity

The many facets of work, including employment relationships and attendant employment quality, the day-to-day conditions experienced in any given job, and the evolution of one’s working circumstances over time can support or detract from health, and combine in myriad ways to impact worker well-being [...

Do New Zealand's immigrants have a mortality advantage? Evidence from the New Zealand Census-Mortality study

Objective. To examine all-cause mortality differentials among New Zealand's (NZ) immigrant population. Unlike other studies that use the total non-migrant population as the reference group, we use NZ-born populations of the same ethnic group for comparison purposes. Our study intends to answer two questions: first, do immigrants have a mortality advantage relative to their NZ-born counterparts of the same ethnicity? Second, does an immigrant mortality advantage, if one exists, decline as duration of residence increases? Design. Data from the New Zealand Census-Mortality Study from 1996–1999 and 2001–2004 were used. The main variable of interest, years of residence in NZ, was classified as living in NZ for less than 5, 5–9, 10–19, 20–34, 35 or more years, and born in NZ. Three main ethnic groups were examined, such as Asian, Pacific, and European/Other. Mortality rates for subgroups within these broad ethnic groups were not calculated. Negative binomial models controlled for socioeconomic and demographic factors to assess the independent effect of duration of residence on mortality. Results. European/Other and Asian immigrants have a mortality advantage relative to their NZ-born counterparts, which declines as length of residence increases. Within strata of duration of residence, there are few differences between European/Other and Asian mortality. Pacific immigrants showed no statistically significant mortality advantage relative to the NZ-born Pacific people, and had higher mortality rates than Europeans/Others or Asians regardless of duration in NZ. Conclusion. Findings from our study are consistent with international literature. Both the healthy migrant effect and acculturation may be responsible for the protective mortality effect among Asians and Europeans/Others that erodes over time. However, our results for the Pacific population suggest some migrant groups come to the host country with a health disadvantage and with no apparent healthy migrant effect

Individual and Neighborhood Stressors, Air Pollution and Cardiovascular Disease

Psychosocial and environmental stress exposures across the life course have been shown to be relevant in the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Assessing more than one stressor from different domains (e.g., individual and neighborhood) and across the life course moves us towards a more integrated picture of how stress affects health and well-being. Furthermore, these individual and neighborhood psychosocial stressors act on biologic pathways, including immune function and inflammatory response, which are also impacted by ubiquitous environmental exposures such as air pollution. The objective of this study is to evaluate the interaction between psychosocial stressors, at both the individual and neighborhood level, and air pollution on CVD. This study used data from the 2009–2011 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) from Washington State. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) measured at the individual level, and neighborhood deprivation index (NDI) measured at the zip code level, were the psychosocial stressors of interest. Exposures to three air pollutants—particulate matter (both PM2.5 and PM10) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2)—were also calculated at the zip code level. Outcome measures included several self-reported CVD-related health conditions. Both multiplicative and additive interaction quantified using the relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI), were evaluated. This study included 32,151 participants in 502 unique zip codes. Multiplicative and positive additive interactions were observed between ACEs and PM10 for diabetes, in models adjusted for NDI. The prevalence of diabetes was 1.58 (95% CI: 1.40, 1.79) times higher among those with both high ACEs and high PM10 compared to those with low ACEs and low PM10 (p-value = 0.04 for interaction on the multiplicative scale). Interaction was also observed between neighborhood-level stressors (NDI) and air pollution (NO2) for the stroke and diabetes outcomes on both multiplicative and additive scales. Modest interaction was observed between NDI and air pollution, supporting prior literature on the importance of neighborhood-level stressors in cardiovascular health and reinforcing the importance of NDI on air pollution health effects. ACEs may exert health effects through selection into disadvantaged neighborhoods and more work is needed to understand the accumulation of risk in multiple domains across the life course

Do Different Patterns of Employment Quality Contribute to Gender Health Inequities in the U.S.? A Cross-Sectional Mediation Analysis

Compared to recent generations, workers today generally experience poorer quality employment across both contractual (e.g., wages, hours) and relational (e.g., participation in decision-making, power dynamics) dimensions within the worker–employer relationship. Recent research shows that women are more likely to experience poor-quality employment and that these conditions are associated with adverse health effects, suggesting employment relations may contribute to gender inequities in health. We analyzed data from the General Social Survey (2002–2018) to explore whether the multidimensional construct of employment quality (EQ) mediates the relationship between gender and health among a representative, cross-sectional sample of U.S. wage earners. Using a counterfactually-based causal mediation framework, we found that EQ plays a meaningful role in a gender–health relationship, and that if the distribution of EQ among women was equal to that observed in men, the probability of reporting poor self-reported health and frequent mental distress among women would be lower by 1.5% (95% Confidence Interval: 0.5–2.8%) and 2.6% (95% CI: 0.6–4.6%), respectively. Our use of a multidimensional, typological measure of EQ allowed our analysis to better account for substantial heterogeneity in the configuration of contemporary employment arrangements. Additionally, this study is one of the first mediation analyses with a nominal mediator within the epidemiologic literature. Our results highlight EQ as a potential target for intervention to reduce gender inequities in health