Re: ABST: BMJ: Relation between income inequality and mortality inCanada and USA

[Frans van Duinen <frans_van_duinen@xxxxxxxx>]

Interesting, but I guess that I dont understand whatt mortality rate means.
I've always understood that in the end rich or poor we all die.
It seems here that Stats Can. figured out that if you're rich enough, you'll
live forever. (As in a 1% increase in income for part of the population
results in 21 fewer deaths per 100k.)

janet paterson wrote:
>
> Relation between income inequality and mortality in Canada and in the United 
> States:
> cross sectional assessment using census data and vital statistics
>
> Objective: To compare the relation between mortality and income inequality in 
> Canada with that in the United States.
>
> Design: The degree of income inequality, defined as the percentage of total 
> household income received by the less well off 50% of households, was 
> calculated and these measures were examined in relation to all cause 
> mortality, grouped by and adjusted for age.
>
> Setting: The 10 Canadian provinces, the 50 US states, and 53 Canadian and 282 
> US metropolitan areas.
>
> Results: Canadian provinces and metropolitan areas generally had both lower 
> income inequality and lower mortality than US states and metropolitan areas.
>
> In age grouped regression models that combined Canadian and US metropolitan 
> areas, income inequality was a significant explanatory variable for all age 
> groupings except for elderly people.
>
> The effect was largest for working age populations, in which a hypothetical 
> 1% increase in the share of income to the poorer half of households would 
> reduce mortality by 21 deaths per 100 000.
>
> Within Canada, however, income inequality was not significantly associated 
> with mortality.
>
> Conclusions: Canada seems to counter the increasingly noted association at 
> the societal level between income inequality and mortality.
>
> The lack of a significant association between income inequality and mortality 
> in Canada may indicate that the effects of income inequality on health are 
> not automatic and may be blunted by the different ways in which social and 
> economic resources are distributed in Canada and in the United States.
>
> BMJ 2000;320:898-902 ( 1 April )
> NA Ross, MC Wolfson, JM Berthelot
> Statistics Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0T6 Canada
> JR Dunn
> University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3 Canada
> GA Kaplan, JW Lynch
> University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109-2029 USA
> <rossnan@xxxxxxxxxx>
> <>
>
> janet paterson
> 53 now / 41 dx / 37 onset
> a new voice: 
> 613 256 8340 PO Box 171 Almonte Ontario Canada K0A 1A0

--
Frans van Duinen
     (416) 652-8580
     Toronto, Ontario