Healthy Aging at Older Ages: Are Income and Education Important?

Being higher on the socioeconomic scale is correlated with being in better health, but is there is a causal relationship? Using three years of longitudinal data for individuals aged 50 and older from the Canadian Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, we study the health transitions for those who were in good health in the first year, focussing especially on income and education. The initial good health restriction removes from the sample those whose incomes may have been affected by a previous history of poor health, thus avoiding a well known problem of econometric endogeneity. We then ask, for those in good health, whether later transitions in health status are related to socioeconomic status. We find that they are that changes in health status over the subsequent two years are related in particular to income and education.aging, health, income, education

The Transition from Good to Poor Health: An Econometric Study of the Older Population

This is a study of the influence of socioeconomic factors on the state of health of older Canadians. Three years of panel data from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics are used to model the transition probabilities between good and poor health. Care is taken to avoid the problem of endogeneity of income in modelling its effects, and to adjust reported income to free it from its strong association with age at the time of the survey. Of particular note are the significant effects found for income, in spite of universal public health care coverage. Significant effects are found also for age, education, and other variables.Socioeconomic factors and health; older population; panel data

Socioeconomic Influence on the Health of Older People: Estimates Based on Two Longitudinal Surveys

There is a strong positive relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and health, but identifying the direction of causation is difficult. This study exploits the longitudinal nature of two Canadian surveys, the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics and the National Population Health Survey, to study the link from SES to health. For people aged 50 and older who are initially in good health we examine whether changes in health status over the next two to four years are related to prior SES, as represented by income and education. Although the two surveys were designed for quite different purposes the evidence they yield with respect to the probability of remaining in good health is strikingly similar. Both suggest that SES does play a role, that the differences across SES groups are quantitatively significant, that the differences increase with age, and that they are much same for men and women.health; socioeconomic status; SLID; NPHS

Socioeconomic Influence on the Health of Older People: Estimates Based on Two Longitudinal Surveys

There is a strong positive relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and health, but identifying the direction of causation is difficult. This study exploits the longitudinal nature of two Canadian surveys, the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics and the National Population Health Survey, to study the link from SES to health. For people aged 50 and older who are initially in good health we examine whether changes in health status over the next two to four years are related to prior SES, as represented by income and education. Although the two surveys were designed for quite different purposes the evidence they yield with respect to the probability of remaining in good health is strikingly similar. Both suggest that SES does play a role, that the differences across SES groups are quantitatively significant, that the differences increase with age, and that they are much same for men and women.health; socioeconomic status; SLID; NPHS

Socioeconomic Influences on the Health of Older Canadians: Estimates Based on Two Longitudinal Surveys

It is well established that there is a positive statistical relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and health but identifying the direction of causation is difficult. This study exploits the longitudinal nature of two Canadian surveys, the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics and the National Population Health Survey, to study the link from SES to health (as distinguished from the health-to-SES link). For people aged 50 and older who are initially in good health we examine whether changes in health status over the next two to four years are related to prior SES, as represented by income and education. Although the two surveys were designed for different purposes and had different questions for income and health, the evidence they yield with respect to the probability of remaining in good health is similar. Both suggest that SES does play a role and that the differences across SES groups are quantitatively significant, increase with age, and are much the same for men and women.health transitions, income, education

The Transition from Good to Poor Health: An Econometric Study of the Older Population

This is a study of the influence of socioeconomic factors on the state of health of older Canadians. Three years of panel data from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics are used to model the transition probabilities between good and poor health. Care is taken to avoid the problem of endogeneity of income in modelling its effects, and to adjust reported income to free it from its strong association with age at the time of the survey. Of particular note are the significant effects found for income, in spite of universal public health care coverage. Significant effects are found also for age, education, and other variables.Socio-economic factors and health; older population; panel data; SLID

Healthy Aging at Older Ages: Are Income and Education Important?

Being higher on the socioeconomic scale is correlated with being in better health, but is there is a causal relationship? Using three years of longitudinal data for individuals aged 50 and older from the Canadian Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, we study the health transitions for those who were in good health in the first year, focussing especially on income and education. The initial good health restriction removes from the sample those whose incomes may have been affected by a previous history of poor health, thus avoiding a well known problem of econometric endogeneity. We then ask, for those in good health, whether later transitions in health status are related to socioeconomic status. We find that they are -- that changes in health status over the subsequent two years are related in particular to income and education.aging, health, income, education

Molecular Profiling of Microbial Communities from Contaminated Sources: Use of Subtractive Cloning Methods and rDNA Spacer Sequences

The major objective of the research was to provide appropriate sequences and to assemble a DNA arrays of oligonucleotides to be used for rapid profiling of microbial populations, from polluted areas and from areas of other interest. The sequences to be assigned to the DNA array are chosen from cloned genomic DNA from groundwater at DOE sites containing organic solvents. The sites, Hanford Nuclear Plant and Lawrence Livermore Site 300 (LLNL), have well characterized pollutant histories, which have been provided by our collaborators

Molecular Profiling of Microbial Communities from Contaminated

The major objective of the research is to provide appropriate sequences and to assemble a high density DNA array of oligonucleotides that can be used for rapid profiling of microbial populations, from polluted areas and from areas of other interest. The sequences to be assigned to the DNA array are chosen from cloned genomic DNA from groundwater at DOE sites containing organic solvents. The sites, Hanford Nuclear Plant and Lawrence Livermore Site 300 (LLNL), have well characterized pollutant histories, which have been provided by our collaborators

Rampant polyphyly indicates cryptic diversity in a clade of Neotropical flycatchers (Aves: Tyrannidae)

Polyphyletic arrangements in DNA phylogenies are often indicators of cryptic species diversity masked by erroneous taxonomic treatments that are frequently based on morphological data. Although mitochondrial (mt)DNA polyphyly is detected relatively rarely in phylogenetic studies, it has recently been found in a variety of tyrant-flycatcher (Tyrannidae) groups. In the present study, we provide a DNA phylogeny for a mitochondrial and a nuclear locus with a complete species sampling in Zimmerius flycatchers, showing that the genus is characterized by multiple mtDNA polyphyly. Based on phylogenetic and life-history information, we suggest the elevation of a number of taxa to species status, leading to a doubling of Zimmerius species-level diversity compared to taxonomic treatments conducted before 2001. © 2013 The Linnean Society of London