I am pleased to see this article (actually I've only seen the abstract so 
far).
I have always felt uneasy about attempts to explain the relationship between 
inequality and health in concrete biomedical terms.
I can understand the motivation - it potentially legitimates calls to 
address poverty etc. But it legitimates them within the framework of the 
dominant biomedical approach to health. And it potentially leads to 
individualistic biomedical solutions like cortisol-lowering drugs, 
psychotropic drugs to reduce anxiety, stress management courses.

Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2006;60:633-639;
Do biomarkers of stress mediate the relation between socioeconomic status 
and health?
Jennifer B Dowd and Noreen Goldman
Objectives: To test the relation between socioeconomic status (SES) and 
biomarkers of chronic stress, including basal cortisol, and to test whether 
these biomarkers account for the relation between SES and health outcomes.
Design: Cross sectional study using data from the 2000 social and 
environmental biomarkers of aging study (SEBAS).
Setting: Taiwan.
Participants: Nationally representative sample of 972 men and women aged 54 
and older.
Main outcome measures: Highest risk quartiles for 13 biomarkers representing 
functioning of the neuroendocrine system, immune/inflammatory systems, and 
the cardiovascular system: cortisol, adrenaline (epinephrine), noradrenaline 
(norepinephrine), serum dihydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEA-S), 
insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1), interleukin 6 (IL6), albumin, systolic 
blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, waist-hip ratio, total 
cholesterol-HDL ratio, HDL cholesterol, and glycosylated haemoglobin; self 
reported health status (1-5) and self reported mobility difficulties (0-6).
Results: Lower SES men have greater odds of falling into the highest risk 
quartile for only 2 of 13 biomarkers, and show a lower risk for 3 of the 13 
biomarkers, with no association between SES and cortisol. Lower SES women 
have a higher risk for many of the cardiovascular risk factors, but a lower 
risk for increased basal readings of adrenaline, noradrenaline, and 
cortisol. Inclusion of all 13 biological markers does not explain the 
relation between SES and health outcomes in the sample.
Conclusions: These data do not support the hypothesis that chronic stress, 
via sustained activation of stress related autonomic and neuroendocrine 
responses, is an important mediator in the relation between SES and health 
outcomes. Most notably, lower SES is not associated with higher basal levels 
of cortisol in either men or women. These results place an increased burden 
of proof on researchers who assert that psychosocial stress is an important 
pathway linking SES and health.
http://jech.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/60/7/633

Melissa

Melissa Raven, Lecturer
Department of Public Health, Flinders University
GPO Box 2100, ADELAIDE  SA  5001
Phone  (08) 8204 5714   Fax  (08) 8204 5693   International 61 8 

-------------------
Problems/Questions? Send it to Listserv owner: [log in to unmask]


To unsubscribe, send the following message in the text section -- NOT the subject header --  to [log in to unmask]
SIGNOFF SDOH

DO NOT SEND IT BY HITTING THE REPLY BUTTON. THIS SENDS THE MESSAGE TO THE ENTIRE LISTSERV AND STILL DOES NOT REMOVE YOU.

To subscribe to the SDOH list, send the following message to [log in to unmask] in the text section, NOT in the subject header.
SUBSCRIBE SDOH yourfirstname yourlastname

To post a message to all 1000+ subscribers, send it to [log in to unmask]
Include in the Subject, its content, and location and date, if relevant.

For a list of SDOH members, send a request to [log in to unmask]

To receive messages only once a day, send the following message to [log in to unmask]
SET SDOH DIGEST

To view the SDOH archives, go to: https://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/sdoh.html