Socioeconomic status and subclinical atherosclerosis in older adults. –

PubMed ID: 21195728

Author(s): Nash SD, Cruickshanks KJ, Klein R, Klein BE, Nieto FJ, Ryff CD, Krantz EM, Shubert CR, Nondahl DM, Acher CW. Socioeconomic status and subclinical atherosclerosis in older adults. Prev Med. 2011 Mar-Apr;52(3-4):208-12. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2010.12.009. Epub 2010 Dec 31. PMID 21195728

Journal: Preventive Medicine, Volume 52, Issue 3 4, 2011

OBJECTIVE This study investigated the long-term effects of socioeconomic status (SES) on atherosclerosis.

METHODS Data from the Epidemiology of Hearing Loss Study and the Beaver Dam Eye Study (Beaver Dam, WI, 1998-2000), were used to examine adult SES (education, household income, and longest-held job) and childhood SES (household density and parental home ownership at age 13) associations with carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and carotid plaque in a cohort of 2042 men and women aged 53 to 94 years.

RESULTS For education, income, and occupation (women), those in the lowest SES group had statistically larger age-sex-adjusted IMT than those in the highest SES group (12 years education: 0.92 vs. 0.86 mm respectively, P<0.0001), ($45,000: 0.97 vs. 0.87 mm, P<0.0001), (operator/fabricator/labor vs. manager/professional: 0.89 vs. 0.82 mm, P<0.001). Associations were similar using carotid plaque as the outcome. Participants with low levels of both adult and childhood SES measures had age-sex-adjusted IMT greater than those with persistently high levels of SES (0.93 vs. 0.84 mm, P<0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS Measures of SES at two points in the life-span were associated with subclinical atherosclerosis.