Income and Heart Attack Risk – Canada

Heart attacks more likely among those with lower incomes, By Eva Ferguson, May 28, 2010, Calgary Herald: “Canadians living in lower income areas need to be better educated about preventive health care, eating right and exercising, particularly in the area of cardio health, experts say, after a national report showed heart attacks are more likely among Canadians with lower socio-economic status. The Canadian Institute for Health Information released its 11th annual Health Indicators report Thursday, concluding that Canadians living in low-income neighbourhoods have higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, smoking and other cardiac risk factors. In 2008-09, almost 67,000 Canadians were hospitalized for a heart attack. After breaking down the Canadian population into five neighbourhood income levels, the report found that Canadians living in the least-affluent neighbourhoods were 37 per cent more likely to have a heart attack than those in the most affluent areas…”