Childhood Socioeconomic Circumstances and Cause-specific Mortality in Adulthood: Systematic Review and Interpretation

Galobardes, Bruna; Lynch, John; Smith, George Davey

doi:10.1093/epirev/mxh008

Cited by 660 publications

(611 citation statements)

References 119 publications

(158 reference statements)

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“…Hence, it is reasonable to expect that, on average, those born in the country of residence generally spent their formative years growing up there. As there is evidence that prenatal and childhood deprivation can have a lasting impact on both adult health and health behaviours (Galobardes et al, 2004;Heckman, 2007) it is plausible that Scotland's historically higher rates of socio-economic deprivation (Carstairs and Morris, 1989) mean that average prenatal and childhood circumstances were worse for the Scottish born compared to the English or Welsh born in this study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

The Scottish excess in mortality compared to the English and Welsh. Is it a country of residence or country of birth excess?

2010

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Scotland has a higher mortality rate than England and Wales that is only partially explained by differences in socio-economic deprivation. Within Scotland those born in England and Wales have a lower mortality rate than the Scottish born. Within England and Wales, Scottish born immigrants have a higher mortality rate than those born in England and Wales. These results raise the question of whether the greater Scottish mortality is a country of birth rather than a country of residence excess. Our analysis, around the 2001 census, suggests that country of birth is more important than country of residence, indicating that early life factors may be important for the Scottish excess.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

The Scottish excess in mortality compared to the English and Welsh. Is it a country of residence or country of birth excess?

2010

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“…Given its relation with both childhood IQ (40) and adult mortality risk (41,42), socioeconomic disadvantage (usually indexed by education, occupational social class, or income) most frequently is posited as an important confounder in the IQ-mortality link (15). Three (12)(13)(14) of nine studies we identified evaluated the effect of early-life social circumstances on the IQ-mortality gradient.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Premorbid (early life) IQ and Later Mortality Risk: Systematic Review

Batty

Deary

Gottfredson³

2007

Annals of Epidemiology

429

347

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PURPOSE: Studies of middle-aged and particularly older-aged adults found that those with higher scores on tests of IQ (cognitive function) had lower rates of later mortality. Interpretation of such findings potentially is hampered by the problem of reverse causality: such somatic diseases as diabetes or hypertension, common in older adults, can decrease cognitive function. Studies that provide extended follow-up of the health experience of individuals who had their (premorbid) IQ assessed in childhood and/or early adulthood minimize this concern. The purpose of the present report is to systematically locate, evaluate, and interpret the findings of all such studies. METHODS: We systematically identified individual-level studies linking premorbid IQ with later mortality by using four approaches: search of electronic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PSYCHINFO); scrutiny of the reference sections of identified reports; search of our own files; and contact with researchers in the field. Study quality was assessed by using predefined criteria. RESULTS: Nine cohort studies met the inclusion criteria. Overall, study quality was moderate. All reports showed an inverse IQ-mortality relation; i.e., higher IQ scores were associated with decreased mortality risk. The nature of this relation (i.e., dose-response or threshold) and whether it differs by sex was unclear. The IQ-mortality association did not appear to be explained by reverse causality or selection bias. Confounding by other early-life factors also did not seem to explain the association, although some studies were not well characterized in this regard. Adult socioeconomic position appeared to mediate the IQ-mortality association in some studies, but this was not a universal finding. CONCLUSIONS: In all studies, higher IQ in the first two decades of life was related to lower rates of total mortality in middle to late adulthood. Some plausible mechanistic pathways exist, but further examination is required. The precise nature of the IQ-mortality relation (particularly in ethnic minorities and women) and the link between IQ and disease-specific outcomes also warrants further research. Ann Epidemiol -;-:-. Ó

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“…In this respect, we build on several papers by medical researchers who have used these data (see Frankel et al, 1999;Dedman et al, 2001). 1 A review of the wider epidemiology literature on childhood socioeconomic conditions and mortality can be found in Galobardes et al (2004), who note that there has been 'relatively little investigation of how early life social circumstances influence adult health ' (p.8). In an analysis of the 1 More generally, the Boyd Orr cohort has also been used to examine the relationship between childhood conditions and health during the subsequent life course (see Martin et al, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Childhood economic conditions and length of life: Evidence from the UK Boyd Orr cohort, 1937–2005

Frijters

Hatton

Martin

et al. 2010

Journal of Health Economics

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent nonprofit company supported by Deutsche Post World Net. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its research networks, research support, and visitors and doctoral programs. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public. Terms of use: Documents in D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E SIZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author. We study the importance of childhood socioeconomic conditions in explaining differences in life expectancy using data from a sample of around 5,000 children collected in the UK in 1937-39, who have been traced through official death records up to 2005. We estimate a number of duration of life models that control for unobserved household heterogeneity. Our results confirm that childhood conditions such as household income and the quality of the home environment are significant predictors of longevity. Importantly, however, the role of socio-economic status appears to differ across cause of death, with household income only being a significant predictor of death from cancer. Moreover, we find that children born in a location with relatively high infant mortality rates live significantly fewer years, that 1st born children in the family live significantly more years, and that there is a very high correlation in longevity across children from the same family across all causes of death. We estimate that the difference in life expectancy between 'good' and 'bad' households is as large as 11 years.JEL Classification: I12

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Childhood Socioeconomic Circumstances and Cause-specific Mortality in Adulthood: Systematic Review and Interpretation

Cited by 660 publications

References 119 publications

The Scottish excess in mortality compared to the English and Welsh. Is it a country of residence or country of birth excess?

The Scottish excess in mortality compared to the English and Welsh. Is it a country of residence or country of birth excess?

Premorbid (early life) IQ and Later Mortality Risk: Systematic Review

Childhood economic conditions and length of life: Evidence from the UK Boyd Orr cohort, 1937–2005

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