This week, the American Medical Association published an extensive report affirming the relationship between poverty and life expectancy.
According to the report in the Journal of the American Medical Association, higher incomes are associated with greater longevity—that’s not necessarily new information, but they say there’s a gap of about 14 years life expectancy between the richest 1% and the poorest 1% of individuals.
In a list of the 100 largest counties in the U.S., Montgomery County ranked near the bottom—coming in at #93 for residents at poverty level or below with lower life expectancies..
Dr. Sara Paton, the epidemiologist at Public Health Dayton and Montgomery County (PHDMC) says, “Specifically for Dayton, we know that those areas of low income, they’re dealing with a lot of social determinants of health issues that the rest of the community doesn’t have to deal with. Things like housing, transportation, safety, access to food.”
Paton says Dayton and Montgomery County were hit especially hard by the 2008 economic downturn creating new poverty for the area.
But, Public Health says there are a number of programs in place that continue to combat the issues adversely affecting poorer neighborhoods—like WIC and other outreach programs for mothers and infants, and programs to help with health insurance and in-home nursing care.
