Disability risk higher in states with rich-poor gap

Canadian researchers have found Americans who live in states with high rates of income inequality are much more likely to have a disability that limits their ability to complete daily tasks such as dressing, bathing and getting around at home.

“We have always known personal income and education can affect one’s health outcomes,” study author and University of Toronto assistant professor Esme Fuller-Thomson said in a press release. “What we didn’t know until now was the substantial strength of the relationship between state-level income inequality and disability. This research shows that individuals have a higher likelihood of physical disability when they live in states where wealth is distributed very unevenly.”

Researchers looked at information collected from 645,000 Americans through the 2003 American Community Survey. Their study findings are published in the British journal Public Health.

Other findings  include:

1. In states with a greater income gap, the wealthy were also at a health disadvantage and more likely to have “high-level” disabilities. 
2. Living in a state with unequal wealth distribution is nearly as much of a risk factor as gender in predicting certain disabilities. Americans living in states with high income inequality were 11 per cent more likely to have a disability than those living in states where wealth is more widely distributed.
3. New York, Arizona and the District of Columbia were the three regions with the highest levels of income inequality.

Wanna talk about this? E-mail me at jraymond@oklahoman.com.

Jeff Raymond, Medical Writer

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