Socioeconomic status

Chnical and epidemiological observations suggest that inhalant use in humans occurs along a continuum, with considerable variability in usage patterns among individuals as a function of age, gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, avahabihty and type of inhalant, and other clinical variables. As a general rule, it is expected that as inhalant consumption and frequency of intoxication increase, the incidence and severity of medical and psychosocial problems wiU increase. 

The controls were patients who had undergone appendicitis or hernia surgery, and were matched for sex, age, and socioeconomic status with a larger set of 31 pesticide poisoning eases, of whieh the methyl parathion eases were a subset. Limitations of this study include the small number of methyl parathion eases, and the use of appendieitis and other surgery patients as eontrols. 

Areas with a higher socioeconomic status seem to be related to an increased number of anaphylactic reactions [44-46]. Data from Canada and Wales indicate that prescriptions for epinephrine autoinjectors were higher in populations of relative wealth, whereas these findings could not be explained by access to medical care or other factors. 

Cocaine and intravenous drug use Low socioeconomic status Increased hematocrit Sickle cell disease... 

Even though exposure to environmental agents such as agricultural chemicals, pesticides, and radiation has been associated with leukemia, none of these agents is linked conclusively with the development of leukemia. An increased frequency of ALL is associated with higher socioeconomic status. It is postulated that less social contact in early infancy and thus a late exposure to some common infectious agents may have some impact.7 In most individual instances, there is no reasonable or obvious explanation for the development of leukemia. 

Dohrenwend, Bruce P., Itzhak Levav, Patrick E. Shrout, Sharon Schwartz, Guedalia Naveh, Bruce G. Link, Andrew E. Skodol and Ann Stueve, Socioeconomic Status and Psychiatric Disorders The Causation-Selection Issue , Science 255, no. 5047 (1992) 946-52 Donaldson, Liam, At Least Five a Week Evidence on the Impact of Physical Activity and Its Relationship to Health. A Report from the Chief Medical Officer , Department of Health, 2004 Editorial, A Double-Edged Sword , Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 7 (2008) 275... 

Hudson, Christopher G., Socioeconomic Status and Mental Illness Tests of the Social Causation and Selection Hypotheses , American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 75, no. 1 (2005) 3-18 The Humble Humbug , The Lancet 2 (1954) 321 Hunter, Aimee M., Andrew F. Leuchter, Melinda L. Morgan and Ian A. Cook, Changes in Brain Function (Quantitative EEG Cordance) During Placebo Lead-in and Treatment Outcomes in Clinical Trials for Major Depression , American Journal of Psychiatry 163, no. 8 (2006) 1426-32 Hyland, Michael E., Do Person Variables Exist in Different Ways , American Psychologist 40 (1985) 1003-10 Hypericum Depression Trial Study Group, Effect of Hypericum Perforatum (St John s Wort) in Major Depressive Disorder A Randomized Controlled Trial , Journal of the American Medical Association 287 (2002) 1807-14... 

Schroeder et al. (1985) and Schroeder and Hawk (1987) evaluated 104 black children of lower socioeconomic status at ages 10 months to 6.5 years, using the Bayley Mental Development Index (MDI) or Stanford-Binet IQ Scale. Hierarchical backward stepwise regression analyses indicated that PbB levels (range 6-59 pg/dL) were a significant source of the variance in IQ and MDI scores after controlling for socioeconomic status and other factors. Fifty of the children were examined again 5 years later, at which time PbB levels were 30 pg/dL. The 5-year follow-up IQ scores were inversely correlated with... 

The above study was replicated later with 75 asymptomatic black children, 3-7 years old, of uniformly low socioeconomic status (Hawk et al. 1986 Schroeder and Hawk 1987). Backward stepwise multivariate regression analysis revealed a highly significant negative linear relationship between Stanford-Binet IQ scores and contemporary PbB levels over the entire range of 6-47 pg/dL (mean,... 

The overall evidence from studies in animals supports the observations of lead neurobehavioral effects in humans. As pointed out by Cory-Slechta (1995), studies in animals have provided a direct measurement of the behavioral process per se, and have done so in the absence of the covariates (e.g., socioeconomic status, parental IQ) known to affect IQ scores in human studies. It is also worth noting that animal studies, in which the experimental design is carefully controlled, have shown that the timing of exposure is crucial, that different neurobehavioral outcomes are affected differently (different thresholds), and that some behavioral alterations last longer than others. 

The toxicokinetic and toxicological behavior of lead can be affected by interactions with essential elements and nutrients (for a review see Mushak and Crocetti 1996). In humans, the interactive behavior of lead and various nutritional factors is particularly significant for children, since this age group is not only sensitive to the effects of lead, but also experiences the greatest changes in relative nutrient status. Nutritional deficiencies are especially pronounced in children of lower socioeconomic status however, children of all socioeconomic strata can be affected. 

Studies examining the relationship between socioeconomic status and health have also been carried out comparing various US states, e.g. comparing the degree of household income inequality and state-level variation in all-cause and cause-specific mortality. In an independent study, Kaplan et al. (1996a) examined the association between income inequality and state-level and household-level variations in total mortality rates. In all cases, increased steepness of inequality was associated with higher death rates overall. 

In order to test this, Kelly et al. (1997) point out that we need a set of biological markers thought to be sensitive to long-term systematic differences in socioeconomic status and living conditions, and these markers must be feasible to measure in large population surveys, so their role in the biological embedding process can be evaluated on a population-based, person-specific basis. 

Wilkinson, R. G. (1999), Health, hierarchy, and social anxiety , in N. E. Adler, M. Marmot, B. S. McEwen and J. Stewart (Eds), Socioeconomic Status and Health in Industrial Nations Social, Psychological and Biological Pathways, Vol. 896, New York Academy of Sciences, New York, 48-63. 

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