"Inequality is Bad for Our Hearts: Why Low Income and Social Exclusion are Major
Causes of Heart Disease"
 is now available at :

http://www.yorku.ca/wellness/heart.pdf

The Press Release follows:

MEDIA RELEASE

Report concludes increasing poverty and growing gap between rich and poor
pose the greatest threats to heart health of Canadians

TORONTO, November 1, 2001 -- A new report released today concludes that the
economic and social conditions under which Canadians live their lives are more
critical in determining whether they develop heart disease than medical and
lifestyle risk factors (diets high in fat and cholesterol, inactivity, and
tobacco use).

The report, Inequality is Bad for our Hearts: Why Low Income and Social
Exclusion are Major Causes of Heart Disease, was commissioned by the North York
Heart Health Network to draw the attention of politicians, policy makers, health
professionals and the public to the threats posed to Canadians' heart health by
the increasing incidence of poverty and low income.

According to the report, the economic and social conditions that most contribute
to heart disease among Canadians are poverty and low income. There is also
increasing evidence that societies with a large income gap between the wealthy
and the poor produce the conditions that lead to heart disease.

Contrary to the messages Canadians are being given about means of preventing
heart disease, income level is the greatest predictor of the incidence of heart
disease. Bringing together the latest research from Canada and around the world
on the precursors of heart disease, the report concludes that poverty and low
income lead to heart disease in three ways:




?    People on low income live under conditions of material deprivation that
produce a cardiovascular health burden that accumulates over the life span;
?    Living on low income creates excessive psychosocial stress that damages the
cardiovascular system;
?    The stressful conditions associated with low income lead to adoption of
health threatening behaviours such as tobacco use.

"Considering what is known about these precursors of heart disease, the policy
directions in which policy makers are taking Canadians is a prescription for
poor heart health," commented the author of the report, Professor Dennis Raphael
of the School of Health Policy and Management at York University.  "The
increasing rate and depth of poverty in Canada combined with the weakening of
the social safety net should ? if research from other countries can be trusted ?
lead to an increasing incidence of heart disease.  Such policies that threaten
health are the greatest threat to the sustainability of our health care system."

The cost of income-related differences in heart disease among Canadians is
staggering.  If all Canadians were as heart healthy as the wealthiest Canadians,
there would be 6,366 fewer deaths a year from heart disease. The cost of
income-related differences in heart disease among Canadians is estimated as
close to $4 billion annually. Therefore, policy directions that reduce the
number of Canadians living on low incomes, limit the exclusion of low income
Canadians from participating in society, and restore the social safety net, are
the most effective means by which the heart health of Canadians can be improved.

The report Inequality is Bad for our Hearts: Why Low Income and Social Exclusion
are Major Causes of Heart Disease is available at
http://www.yorku.ca/wellness/heart.pdf.

                                                        -30-
Contacts:

Sara Farrell, Coordinator                          Dennis Raphael, Associate
Professor
North York Heart Health Network          School of Health Policy and Management
Toronto Public Health                    York University
416-338-8471                                            416-736-2100, ext. 22134
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