Paper
Sunday, November 4, 2007
141
Perceived Income Inadequacy as a Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Disease in Older Community Dwelling Women
Sarah L. Szanton, Nursing, Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, Baltimore, MD, USA
| Learning Objective #1: 1. know the relationship between income and cardiovascular disease |
| Learning Objective #2: 2. identify the impact of income inadequacy on cardiovascular disease in older women |
Low-income patients have an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) compared to their high income counterparts but the relationship between perceived income inadequacy and CVD is not well understood. We examined the association between income inadequacy and incident CVD in 522 community dwelling older women who were free of CVD at baseline. These women were participating in companion population-based prospective cohort studies designed to determine the causes and course of disability in community dwelling older women (The Women’s Health and Aging Studies I and II). The measure of income inadequacy was participant report of more than enough, just enough, or not enough money at the end of the month. Other measures of socioeconomic status included income and education. There were 137 new cases of CVD over the 3 year study period. Participants had a mean age of 74 years, average income of $22,400. Twenty two percent were African American, and 30% reported not having enough or having just enough money at the end of each month to cover expenses. Logistic regression analysis provided odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association between incident CVD and perceived income inadequacy. Women who perceived their income as inadequate were more likely to develop CVD (OR = 2.36, 95% CI 1.51 - 3.70) than those who perceived they had more than enough money, independent of actual income, education, race, and age. Our findings suggest that older women’s perception of their financial resources may be an important risk factor for developing CVD.