09 Jun Income Disparities Persist In Cardiovascular Risk Factors in the US

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Odutayo

Dr. Ayodele Odutayo
MD MSc DPhil(pending)
Centre For Statistics in Medicine,
University of Oxford
Resident Physician (PGY1), Post-Doctoral Fellow,
Applied Health Research Centre
St. Michael’s Hospital,
University of Toronto

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Previously published studies have reported increasing gaps in life expectancy among adults belonging to different socioeconomic strata and suggested that much of this gap was mediated through behavioural and metabolic risk factors.

In this study, we found that from 1999-2014, there was an increasing gap in the control of cardiovascular risk factors between high income adults compared to adults with incomes at or below the poverty line. The proportion of adults at high cardiovascular risk (predicted risk of a cardiovascular event ≥20%), the mean systolic blood pressure and the percentage of current smokers decreased for high income adults but did not change for adults with incomes at or below the poverty line. Notably, the income disparity in these cardiovascular risk factors was not wholly explained by access to health insurance or educational attainment. Trends in the percentage of adults with diabetes and the average total cholesterol level did not vary by income.

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?

Response: The main implication of our study is that adults in all income strata have not benefited equally from efforts to improve control of cardiovascular risk factors in the United States. There needs to be a public health focus on reducing income disparities in cardiovascular risk factors, particularly blood pressure and smoking.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Response: Future studies should examine whether the income gap in cardiovascular risk factors has continued to increase after 2014, the time point at which many states expanded health insurance to low income adults as part of the affordable care act.

MedicalResearch.com: Thank you for your contribution to the MedicalResearch.com community.

Citation:

Odutayo A, Gill P, Shepherd S, Akingbade A, Hopewell S, Tennankore K, Hunn BH, Emdin CA. Income Disparities in Absolute Cardiovascular Risk and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in the United States, 1999-2014. JAMA Cardiol. Published online June 07, 2017. doi:10.1001/jamacardio.2017.1658

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Last Updated on June 9, 2017 by Marie Benz MD FAAD