Life-Course Socioeconomic Status and Metabolic Syndrome Among Midlife Women

We examine whether women's risks of having metabolic syndrome (MetS) at pre/early-menopausal baseline, and of developing MetS after baseline, are associated with childhood and adult socioeconomic statuses (SESs); and whether the associations are mediated by adult reproductive, economic, behavio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2016-11, Vol.71 (6), p.1097-1107
Main Authors: Montez, Jennifer Karas, Bromberger, Joyce T, Harlow, Siobán D, Kravitz, Howard M, Matthews, Karen A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Adult Survivors of Child Adverse Events - statistics & numerical data
Aging
Female
Gerontology
Humans
Incidence
Menopause
Metabolic syndrome
Metabolic Syndrome - epidemiology
Middle age
Middle Aged
Original
Prospective Studies
Social Class
Socioeconomic factors
United States - epidemiology
Women's Health
Womens health
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Summary:We examine whether women's risks of having metabolic syndrome (MetS) at pre/early-menopausal baseline, and of developing MetS after baseline, are associated with childhood and adult socioeconomic statuses (SESs); and whether the associations are mediated by adult reproductive, economic, behavioral, and psychosocial factors. Using data on white and black women collected prospectively for 12 years in the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation, we estimated odds of MetS at pre/early-menopausal baseline with logistic regression, and incidence of MetS after baseline with Cox proportional hazards models. Women raised in "adverse" childhood SES had marginally greater odds of MetS at baseline than did women raised in "good" SES, and women with a high school credential or less had significantly greater odds than college-educated women, in mutually adjusted models. The elevated odds partly reflected SES-related differences in exercise and alcohol consumption. Incidence after baseline was associated with education, not childhood SES, and partly mediated by health behaviors. Differences in the probability of surviving without MetS between the most and least socioeconomically advantaged women nearly doubled between ages 50 and 60. Childhood and adult SES predict women's risks of MetS as they approach the menopause transition; adult SES is primarily important afterwards.
ISSN:1079-5014
1758-5368
DOI:10.1093/geronb/gbw014