Wealth and mortality at older ages

A prospective cohort study

Datos Bibliográficos

ID11171908
AutoresPanayotes Demakakos (0000-0002-7663-2122, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, UK, autor de correspondencia), Jane P Biddulph (Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, UK), Jane Biddulph (University College London), Martin Bobak (0000-0002-2633-6851, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, UK), Michael Marmot (0000-0002-2431-6419, University College London), Michael G Marmot (Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, UK)
Año2016
Volumen70
Número4
Páginas346-353
Fecha de publicación2016-04-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Epidemiology and Community Health (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0143-005X • E-ISSN: 1470-2738
EditorialBMJ (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1136/jech-2015-206173
PMID26511887
OpenAlexW2181050210
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas38
Referencias citadas29

BACKGROUND: Despite the importance of socioeconomic position for survival, total wealth, which is a measure of accumulation of assets over the life course, has been underinvestigated as a predictor of mortality. We investigated the association between total wealth and mortality at older ages. METHODS: We estimated Cox proportional hazards models using a sample of 10,305 community-dwelling individuals aged ≥ 50 years from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. RESULTS: 2401 deaths were observed over a mean follow-up of 9.4 years. Among participants aged 50-64 years, the fully adjusted HRs for mortality were 1.21 (95% CI 0.92 to 1.59) and 1.77 (1.35 to 2.33) for those in the intermediate and lowest wealth tertiles, respectively, compared with those in the highest wealth tertile. The respective HRs were 2.54 (1.27 to 5.09) and 3.73 (1.86 to 7.45) for cardiovascular mortality and 1.36 (0.76 to 2.42) and 2.53 (1.45 to 4.41) for other non-cancer mortality. Wealth was not associated with cancer mortality in the fully adjusted model. Similar but less strong associations were observed among participants aged ≥ 65 years. The use of repeated measurements of wealth and covariates brought about only minor changes, except for the association between wealth and cardiovascular mortality, which became less strong in the younger participants. Wealth explained the associations between paternal occupation at age 14 years, education, occupational class, and income and mortality. CONCLUSIONS: There are persisting wealth inequalities in mortality at older ages, which only partially are explained by established risk factors. Wealth appears to be more strongly associated with mortality than other socioeconomic position measures

Cohort · Cohort study · Prospective cohort study · Sociology · Demography · Employment and Welfare Studies · Health disparities and outcomes · Insurance, Mortality, Demography, Risk Management · Internal Medicine · Medicine · Gerontology