- Poverty, poor education shave years off the life span, By Jennifer Thomas, January 4, 2010, BusinessWeek: “Smoking and obesity are known to lead to a host of life-threatening conditions from cardiovascular disease to cancer, but poverty may be even worse for your health, new research suggests. According to a study by researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, people whose household earnings are in the bottom one-third of the U.S. population, or up to twice the federal poverty level, lost 8.2 years of perfect health. Obesity related to a 4.2 year loss in perfect health, while smokers lost 6.6 years. Healthy life lost is a measure that includes health and life expectancy…”
- Poverty shortens healthy years, By Jeannine Stein, December 28, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “Poverty appears to trump smoking, obesity and education as a health burden, potentially causing a loss of 8.2 years of perfect health. In a new study, researchers looked at health and life expectancy data from the National Health Interview Surveys and the Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys and came up with various behavioral and social risk factors that affect quality of life, then used a formula to estimate the quality-adjusted years of life that would be lost…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty