POVERTY AND DEATH IN THE UNITED STATES

The authors conducted a survival analysis to determine the effect of poverty on mortality in a national sample of blacks and whites, 25 to 74 years of age (the first National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES-1) and NHANES-I Epidemiologie Follow-up Study). They estimated the proportion...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of health services 1996-01, Vol.26 (4), p.673-690
Main Authors: Hahn, Robert A., Eaker, Elaine D., Barker, Nancy D., Teutsch, Steven M., Sosniak, Waldemar A., Krieger, Nancy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
African Americans - statistics & numerical data
Aged
Biological and medical sciences
Cohort Studies
European Continental Ancestry Group - statistics & numerical data
Factors
Female
Health Surveys
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Miscellaneous
Morbidity
Mortality
Mortality Rates
Population
Poverty
Public health
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Risk Factors
Section on Social Inequalities in Health
Sex Factors
Social conditions
Survival Analysis
U.S.A
United States
United States - epidemiology
United States of America
USA
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Summary:The authors conducted a survival analysis to determine the effect of poverty on mortality in a national sample of blacks and whites, 25 to 74 years of age (the first National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES-1) and NHANES-I Epidemiologie Follow-up Study). They estimated the proportion of mortality associated with poverty during 1971-1984 and in 1991 by calculating population attributable risk and assessed confounding by major known risk factors (e.g., smoking, cholesterol levels, and physical inactivity). In 1973, 6.0 percent of U.S. mortality among black and white persons 25 to 74 years of age was attributable to poverty; in 1991, the proportion was 5.9 percent. In 1991, rates of mortality attributable to poverty were lowest for white women, 2.2 times as high for white men, 8.6 times as high for black men, and 3.6 times as high for black women. Adjustment for all these potential confounders combined had little effect on the hazard ratio among men, but reduced the effect of poverty on mortality among women by 42 percent. The proportion of mortality attributable to poverty among U.S. black and white adults has changed only minimally in recent decades. The effect of poverty on mortality must be largely explained by conditions other than commonly recognized risk factors.
ISSN:0020-7314
1541-4469
DOI:10.2190/967K-LC4F-DU66-W5P9