Socioeconomic Status

"Discussions of health by race and ethnicity often overlap with discussions of health by socioeconomic status, since the two concepts are intertwined in the United States. Racial and ethnic minorities are more likely than non-Hispanic whites to be poor or near poor, so many of the data pertaining to subordinate groups is also likely to be pertinent to low socioeconomic groups. One of the strongest and most consistent predictors of a person's morbidity and mortality experience is that person's socioeconomic status. This finding persists across all diseases with few exceptions, continues throughout the entire lifespan, and extends across numerous risk factors for disease. Economics are only part of the socioeconomic status picture; education also plays an important role. Once information linking habits to disease was disseminated, behavior-influenced diseases such as lung cancer, coronary artery disease, and AIDS decreased in high socioeconomic status groups and increased in low socioeconomic status groups. This illustrates the important role of education initiatives regarding a given disease, as well as possible inequalities in how those initiatives effectively reach different socioeconomic groups."