Poverty greater killer than lifestyle, study finds

 Eric Beauchesne
 Saskatoon StarPhoenix


OTTAWA -- Poverty is a killer, according to a new study that argues the physical
deprivation and sociological stresses
from living on a low income are a greater threat to the health and lives of
Canadians than their lifestyles, including
smoking or a poor diet.

Low income is responsible for more than 6,000 unnecessary deaths every year in
Canada from heart disease alone,
says the study being released today by the Centre for Social Justice, a
Toronto-based non-profit social research group.

A U.S. study released earlier this week argued obesity is a more serious health
risk than heavy drinking, smoking or
living in poverty. These conclusions followed a Canadian study that discovered
Canadian children are among the most
obese in the world.

But the study by the Centre for Social Justice says "cardiovascular disease is
the disease which is most associated
with low income among Canadians.

"Low income is associated with material deprivation during early life and
adulthood, excessive psychosocial stress and
the adoption of health threatening behaviours, all of which cause cardiovascular
disease," says the study by Dennis
Raphael, associate professor at York University and expert on human development
and education.

If the rate of death of all Canadians from cardiovascular disease was equal to
those in the wealthiest 20 per cent, there
would be 6,366 fewer deaths each year from that disease, it says.

"It is estimated that income differences account for a 24 per cent excess in
premature deaths prior to 75 years of age
from cardiovascular disease among Canadians," it says.

While those on low incomes pay with their lives for being poor, all Canadians
pay financially. The study estimates the
extra costs to the country of cardiovascular disease that are related to low
incomes total $4 billion a year.

And the deaths and costs have been increasing, which the study suggests is a
reflection of a widening gap between
the rich and poor in Canada.

The study also suggests the lower the income the greater the risk of heart
disease, noting "people at each step up the
income scale are healthier than those on the step below."

The report cites a variety of studies to support its arguments including one
that found income was a reliable predicator
of death from heart disease among men living in British Columbia.

Those in the lowest income group had a death rate of 2.3 per 100,000 from heart
disease, three times the 0.8 per
100,000 for the highest income group.

There's evidence that the poor are also at greater risk of suffering other
diseases.

"Adverse socioeconomic conditions in early life can produce lasting increases in
the risk of cardiovascular disease,
respiratory illness, and some cancers late in life," it says.

And Raphael, in an interview, said some of the damage done in early life to the
bodies of those on low incomes, such
as that reflected in a low body weight at birth, is never fully reversed,
regardless of their economic situation later in life.

But what matters more than overall wealth in determining health and mortality in
society is how evenly wealth is
distributed, it says. The more equally wealth is distributed the better the
health of that society.

And the gap between rich and poor is widening not narrowing, it warns.





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