Socioeconomic mobility in adulthood and cardiovascular disease mortality

Life course models suggest that socioeconomic mobility is associated with decreased cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality risk. We examined adult socioeconomic mobility measured by household income in relation to CVD mortality risk among older adults.

Data from 2691 (n(men) = 1157; n(women) = 1534) Alameda County Study respondents in 1994 were used in these analyses. Latent growth curve models were used to identify income patterns from 1965 to 1994.

Income patterns were categorized as consistently low, moderately low, increasing, and high. Bivariate models showed that membership in the increasing compared with high pattern was associated with decreased hazards of CVD mortality (hazard ratio, 0.15; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.04-0.53). Controlling for age, race/ethnicity, marital status, and gender, respondents in the consistently low (HR, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.5-3.1) and high pattern (HR, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.1-4.2) had increased hazards of CVD mortality than those in the moderately low income group.

Patterns of association were consistent with social mobility models of socioeconomic position, indicating lower CVD mortality risk for those with increasing or higher incomes. Future work should continue to investigate measures that capture the variation in social mobility over the life course, and how these patterns shape chronic disease risk in later life.