The association between socioeconomic status and cardiovascular disease risk factors in a rural-dwelling aging cohort of west Texas

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2011-05

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Abstract

Socioeconomic status (SES) refers to an individual’s social and economic position relative to other members in a society. Due to the fact that American society is aging and few studies on the association between socioeconomic status and risk factors for cardiovascular disease were conducted in rural residents of U.S., it is urgent that more related studies focus on rural aging people. Data on 509 rural-dwelling aging people from West Texas were analyzed using binary Logistic regression. Data analysis showed that people in rural areas have relative lower socioeconomic status and higher prevalence of risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Logistic regression results demonstrated that both of SES and demographic indicators have significant effects on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Age was linked to most of the CVD risk factors; males and Hispanic have a higher risk for developing diabetes; people without house tenure tend to have alcohol use problem; household income is the strongest estimator to diabetes and an effective estimator to hypertension and depression in a rural setting; higher occupational level was positively associated with the decrease of diabetes and obesity risk; both household income and occupation directly affect CVD risk; in contrast, education indirectly influence health outcome; the underlying pathway through which education benefit health outcomes is the financial and occupational improvement that associated with education.

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