Life-course socioeconomic position and incidence of coronary heart disease: the Framingham Offspring Study.
Pubmed ID: 19179358
Pubmed Central ID: PMC2727217
Journal: American journal of epidemiology
Publication Date: April 1, 2009
MeSH Terms: Humans, Male, Parents, Adult, Female, Risk Factors, Middle Aged, Coronary Disease, Proportional Hazards Models, Educational Status, Incidence, Socioeconomic Factors, Occupations
Grants: N01HC25195, R01 AG028321, R01 AG028321-01, R01 AG028321-02, R01 AG028321-03, R01 AG028321-04, R01 AG028321-05, R01 HL064753-01, R01 HL064753-02, R01 HL064753-03, R01 HL064753-04, R01 HL076784, R01 HL076784-01, R01 HL076784-02, R01 HL076784-03, R01 HL076784-04, R01 HL076784-05, AG 028321, HL 064753, HL 076784, N01 HC 25195
Authors: Loucks EB, Lynch JW, Almeida ND, Pilote L, Richard H, Benjamin EJ, Murabito JM, Fuhrer R, Agha G
Cite As: Loucks EB, Lynch JW, Pilote L, Fuhrer R, Almeida ND, Richard H, Agha G, Murabito JM, Benjamin EJ. Life-course socioeconomic position and incidence of coronary heart disease: the Framingham Offspring Study. Am J Epidemiol 2009 Apr 1;169(7):829-36. Epub 2009 Jan 29.
Studies:
Abstract
Cumulative exposure to socioeconomic disadvantage across the life course may be inversely associated with coronary heart disease (CHD); the mechanisms are not fully clear. An objective of this study was to determine whether cumulative life-course socioeconomic position (SEP) is associated with CHD incidence in a well-characterized US cohort that had directly assessed childhood and adulthood measures of SEP and prospectively measured CHD incidence. Furthermore, analyses aimed to evaluate whether adjustment for CHD risk factors reduces the association between cumulative life-course SEP and CHD. The authors examined 1,835 subjects who participated in the Framingham Heart Study Offspring Cohort from 1971 through 2003 (mean age, 35.0 years; 52.4% women). Childhood SEP was measured as father's education; adulthood SEP was assessed as own education and occupation. CHD incidence included myocardial infarction, coronary insufficiency, and coronary death. Cox proportional hazards analyses indicated that cumulative SEP was associated with incident CHD after adjustment for age and sex (hazard ratio = 1.82, 95% confidence interval: 1.17, 2.85 for low vs. high cumulative SEP score). Adjustment for CHD risk factors reduced that magnitude of association (hazard ratio = 1.29, 95% confidence interval: 0.78, 2.13). These findings underscore the potential importance of CHD prevention and treatment efforts for those whose backgrounds include low SEP throughout life.