Age, SES, and Health: A Population Level Analysis of Health Inequalities over the Life Course

This paper tests two competing hypotheses on the relationship between age, SES, and health inequality at the cohort/population level. The accumulation hypothesis predicts that levels of SES- based health inequality and consequently overall health inequality within a cohort progressively increase as it ages. The divergence-convergence hypothesis predicts that these inequalities increase only up to early-old age then decrease. Data from a Canadian national health survey are used in this study, and are adjusted for SES-biases in mortality. Bootstrap methods are employed to assess the statistical precision and significance of the results. The Gini coefficient is used to estimate change in the overall level of health inequality with age and the Concentration coefficient estimates the contribution of SES- based health inequalities to this change. Health is measured using the Health Utilities Index and income and education provide the measure of SES. First, the findings show that the Gini coefficient progressively increases from 0.048 (95% CI: 0.045, 0.051) at ages 15-29 to 0.147 (95% CI: 0.131, 0.163) at ages 80+. Second, the data reveal that health inequalities between SES groups (Concentration coefficients for income and education) tend to follow a similar pattern of divergence. Together these findings provide support for the accumulation hypothesis. A notable implication of the study's findings is that the level of health inequality increases when compensating for age-specific socio- economic differences in mortality. These selective effects of mortality should be considered in future research on health inequalities and the life course.Health Inequality, Life Course, SES, Gini/Concentration coefficient

Income Inequality as a Canadian Cohort Ages: An Analysis of the Later Life Course

At each stage of the life course, people experience different economic situations. Retired people, for example, draw the majority of their incomes from the pension system rather than the labour market. Using Survey of Consumer Finances cross-sectional data from 1973 to 1996, this paper examines Canadian trends in income inequality over the middle and later stages of the life course of a synthetic cohort born between 1922 and 1926. Three hypotheses regarding changes in the level of income inequality during later life are tested: income is 1) distributed more equally; 2) distributed about the same; or 3) distributed less equally, in the retirement years than in the working years. Using Gini coefficients, the findings show that income inequality decreases within a cohort as it grows old; that is, the Canadian retirement income system smooths out (levels) the distribution of income in later life. The observed decrease in inequality corresponds with a decrease in income from earnings and an increase in dependency on state benefits. The progressive nature of public pension programs in Canada increases the relative income share and the average income of the poorest seniors. Moreover, Canada exhibits a more equal distribution of income in old age compared to countries with similar old-age welfare systems, such as the United States. Any reform toward privatization of the retirement income system in Canada will jeopardize the ability of the state to reshape income inequalities in later life.income inequality; cohort; public pension

A Life-course Perspective on the Relationship between Socio-economic Status and Health: Testing the Divergence Hypothesis

While adults from all socio-economic status (SES) levels generally encounter a decline in health as they grow older, research shows that health status is tied to SES at all stages of life. The dynamics of the relationship between SES and health over the life course of adult Canadians, however, remain largely unexplored. This paper tests the divergence hypothesis, which postulates that the SES- based gap in health widens with age, using a representative sample of Canadians aged 25 to 79 from the 1994/1995 National Population Health Survey. Multiple linear regression analyses show support for this assumption; that is, the relationship between SES (measured by years of education and annual household income) and health (measured by self-rated and functional health indexes) strengthens with age. The results of this study provide insight and answers about healthy aging among Canadians.Health; Socio-economic status; Life course; Healthy aging

An asymptotic property of Schachermayer's space under renorming

A Banach space X with closed unit ball B is said to have property 2-beta, repsectively 2-NUC if for every \ep > 0, there exists \delta > 0 such that for every \ep-separated sequence (x_n) in the unit ball B, and every x in B, there are distinct indices m and n such that ||x + x_m + x_n|| < 3(1 - \delta), respectively, ||x_m + x_n|| < 2(1 - \delta). It is shown that a Banach space constructed by Schachermayer has property 2-beta but cannot be renormed to have property 2-NUC

Investigation of Removal of Hexavalent Chromium and Divalent Cobalt From Aqueous Solutions by Organo-montmorillonite Supported Iron Nanoparticles

A new class of nanoscale zero-valent iron particles supported on natural montmorillonite and organo-montmorillonite were synthesized and the feasibility for the removal of and was examined through laboratory batch test. The X – ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared spectrum (FTIR) investigation has been applied for determination of the particle size and mechanism of remediation process. The aim of this study was to enhance the reduction of persistent environmental pollutants difficult to degrade by immobilization of nanoscale zero-valent iron on an organo-montmorillonite. Batch experiments indicated that the reduction of both and was much greater with organo-montmorillonite supported iron nanoparticles reaching removal rate up to 98.5% and 95.6% respectively at the initial metal concentrations of 50 mg/L. Iron and crystalline iron oxide were detected by X-ray diffraction patterns. In the FTIR spectrum, CH2 groups were found in iron nanoparticles supported on hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide modified montmorillonite (HDTMA-Mont/nZVI) particles but were significantly weakened in comparison with the spectrum of hexadecyl trimethylammonium bromide (HDTMA). Other factor that affects the efficiency of heavy metals removal such as pH values was also investigated. The obtained data and review of the current literature have given the opportunity to figure out the mechanisms of and removal which may thus promote the industrial application of nZVI technique in environmental remediation by changing the hydrophilic – hydrophobic properties of source systems

Ethnicity and Health: An Analysis of Physical Health Differences across Twenty-one Ethnocultural Groups in Canada

The study of health differences across a wide-range of ethnic, racial, and cultural groups has received relatively little attention in the literature. Twenty-one ethnocultural groups are examined in the current study, providing one of the most comprehensive analyses to-date on ethnicity and physical health in Canada. Two specific research questions are addressed. First, what is the extent of ethnocultural-based health inequalities in Canada? Second, do ethnocultural differences in health reflect differences in social structural and health-related behavioural environments? These questions are analyzed using the master datafile of the 2000/2001 Canadian Community Health Survey (n=129,588). Three global measures of physical health are used: self-rated health, functional health, and activity restriction. The results show that certain ethnic and cultural groups experience higher health status compared to other ethnocultural groups. Social structural (i.e., socio-demographic and SES factors) and behavioural (alcohol and cigarette consumption, diet/nutrition, and exercise) control variables are also introduced to determine if these factors mediate the relationship between ethnicity/race and health. These findings show that health differences between ethnic and racial groups are partly attributable to structural and behavioural factors. They also show that the mediating effects of these variables vary across ethnocultural groups, and that social structural factors are generally more important than behavioural ones in explaining ethnocultural-based differences in health. The implications of the study findings for future research on ethnicity and health and for health care policies are discussed.ethnicity, race, self-rated health, functional health, social structure, lifestyle