Socioeconomic Stresses May Compromise Life Expectancy

Analyzing census data and vital statistics from Virginia (USA) counties and cities between 1990 and 2006, Steven H. Woolf, from Virginia Commonwealth University (Virginia, USA), and colleagues revealed that one out of four deaths would have been averted if the mortality rates of Virginia’s five most affluent counties and cities had existed statewide. In some of the most disadvantaged areas of the state, nearly half of the deaths would have been averted. Suggesting that Virginia serves as a microcosm that may represent regional or national trends, the team concludes that: “Favorable conditions that exist in areas with high household incomes exert a major influence on mortality rates. The corollary — that health suffers when society is exposed to economic stresses — is especially timely amid the current recession.”