Persistent socioeconomic and racial and ethnic disparities in pathogen burden in the United States, 1999-2014

The disproportionate burden of prevalent, persistent pathogens among disadvantaged groups may contribute to socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities in long-term health. We assessed if the social patterning of pathogen burden changed over 16 years in a U.S.-representative sample. Data came from 1...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Epidemiology and infection 2019-11, Vol.147, p.e301-e301, Article e301
Main Authors: Stebbins, R C, Noppert, G A, Aiello, A E, Cordoba, E, Ward, J B, Feinstein, L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Cost of Illness
Cross-Sectional Studies
Educational Status
Ethnic Groups - education
Ethnic Groups - statistics & numerical data
Female
Health Status Disparities
Health Surveys
Humans
Income
Male
Middle Aged
Original Paper
Poverty
Social Class
Toxoplasmosis - economics
Toxoplasmosis - ethnology
United States - epidemiology
Virus Diseases - economics
Virus Diseases - ethnology
Young Adult
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Summary:The disproportionate burden of prevalent, persistent pathogens among disadvantaged groups may contribute to socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities in long-term health. We assessed if the social patterning of pathogen burden changed over 16 years in a U.S.-representative sample. Data came from 17 660 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey participants. Pathogen burden was quantified by summing the number of positive serologies for cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex virus-1, HSV-2, human papillomavirus and Toxoplasma gondii and dividing by the number of pathogens tested, giving a percent-seropositive for each participant. We examined sex- and age-adjusted mean pathogen burdens from 1999-2014, stratified by race/ethnicity and SES (poverty-to-income ratio (PIR); educational attainment). Those with a PIR < 1.3 had a mean pathogen burden 1.4-1.8 times those with a PIR > 3.5, with no change over time. Educational disparities were even greater and showed some evidence of increasing over time, with the mean pathogen burden among those with less than a high school education approximately twice that of those who completed more than high school. Non-Hispanic Black, Mexican American and other Hispanic participants had a mean pathogen burden 1.3-1.9 times non-Hispanic Whites. We demonstrate that socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities in pathogen burden have persisted across 16 years, with little evidence that the gap is closing.
ISSN:0950-2688
1469-4409
DOI:10.1017/S0950268819001894