Lower Income Areas High On Mortality

Friday, February 19, 2010, 15:42

Individuals who live in lower household income area are much more likely to die because of their personal and household features and their community surroundings, says a Virginia Commonwealth University researcher.

Socioeconomic status can affect life expectancy, declares a study by Steven H. Woolf, M.D., M.P.H., director of the VCU Center on Human Needs, professor in the Department of Family Medicine.

"It's tempting to assume that our findings are based on how much money people make," Woolf said.

Woolf and his colleagues analyzed census data and vital statistics from Virginia counties and cities to come up with this conclusion.

They demonstrated that if the mortality rates of Virginia's five most affluent counties and cities had existed statewide, then in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the state, nearly half of the deaths would have been averted.

Regions of the state with deep poverty, large minority populations and lower educational achievement levels are high on mortality rate.