Effects of Income Disparity on Health

Source: S. Leonard Syme (professor of epidemiology, University of California, Berkeley), "Income Inequality, Socioeconomic Status and Health: International Evidence," www.inequality.org/symetalk2.html: 

• "The issue of socioeconomic status is by far the most overwhelmingly significant factor for health and well-being; it has always been so and it remains so today." 

• "It has been estimated that half of all causes of mortality in the United States are linked to social and behavioral factors such as smoking , diet, alcohol use, sedentary lifestyles, and so on. . . . [W]e though that if we could identify these behavioral risk factors, and inform people about them, people would rush home and in interest of good health, change that behavior. Some people have done just that. But, overwhelmingly, people do not change their behavior.  . . A report [of the California State Department of Public Health] was recently made available examining behavioral changes in California over these last 15 years. It is not an encouraging report. Aside from declines in cigarette smoking among adults, every chart in the report shows a flat line reflecting no changes.  The only exceptions are obesity, which is getting worse, and the alarming increase in smoking among young people."

• "If we are going to be able to develop more effective programs to prevent disease, we must give more attention not only to the behavior of individuals but also to the environmental contexts in which people live."

• "Richard Wilkinson showed that income level per se was not as important [in determining health outcomes] as the gap in societies between the rich and the poor."

For a summary of the major findings and recommendations of the conference at which Mr. Syme was the keynote speaker, see Bonnie Lefkowitz, "Dollars Count More Than Doctors," at www.inequality.org/healthdcfr.html. See also the sources cited at http://work-and-health.org/future/map/income.htm#health discussing the links between income disparity and health.

Diabetes and Income:  According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, "Women with diabetes are twice as likely to be poor or undereducated as those without the disease. . . The findings suggest that more educated women make better decisions about their health, and that higher income means access to better medical care . . . About 28 percent of women with diabetes failed to complete high school, compared with 12 percent of women without the disease. . . About 40 percent of diabetic women make less that $25,000 a year, compared with 22 percent without diabetes. . . . The disease, which has been linked to obesity, can lead to blindness, limb amputation, and death.  Women account for 52 percent of diabetes cases in adults.  The disease kills 180,000 Americans each year."  Findings, "Diabetic Women Are More Likely to Be Poor," Washington Post, February 22, 2002, A14.

Problem:  in 1997 the U.S. ranked 18th in infant mortality among the industrialized nations of the world.  Source: Children's Defense Fund.

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