Impact of Socioeconomic Status on Heart Failure

Heart failure has emerged as a substantial health burden in the United States in the last few decades. This study examined the hypothesis that socioeconomic factors such as education level, social position, employment status, and poverty have a strong confounding influence on the risk for heart failure. To access relevant data, 12 published studies were retrieved from MEDLINE, Google Scholar, and Web of Science. A cross-sectional analysis of the identified studies confirmed that the four socioeconomic factors predisposed individuals to an elevated risk of heart failure-related complications. Despite their interdependencies, educational level, employment status, social position, and poverty independently confounded cardiovascular risk among individuals. Notably, individuals from households with low education were at a higher risk of these diseases. At the same time, households without employed family members were less likely to report cases of heart failure than those with low socioeconomic status. Additionally, individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds faced a greater risk for heart failure complications. The findings from this study found a strong association between socioeconomic status and heart failure risks.