Chronic diseases are the number one killer in the United States and account for approximately 90% of the $3.8 billion annual healthcare costs. One of the contributing factors to chronic diseases are high risk habits that could be attributed to stress. Socioeconomic status is highly correlated with stress. This study aims to look at the association between household income and increased prevalence of multi-morbidities while controlling for potential confounding variables age, race, and gender. A secondary data analysis was performed using the 2017-2018 NHANES dataset with a sample size of 8045. The chronic diseases that were included in the analysis were congested heart failure, COPD, coronary heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, all self-reported by the participants. A logistic regression was performed using SAS to determine the odds ratios of comorbidities among households with medium ($20,000-$99,999) and high income ($100,000 or more) with respect to low income ($19,999 or less) as reference category. It was concluded that after adjusting for age, race, and gender that those with low income were more likely to have multi-morbidities than those with medium or high household incomes. When compared to low household income, those with medium household incomes had a 40% decreased odds of having multi-morbidities and high household incomes have a 64% decreased odds of having multi-morbidities. This discrepancy highlights that further research is needed to identify the most significant behaviors that may account for this difference. Limitations of this study may include the absence of variables studying physical activity and smoking habits, as well as observing accessibility between the groups. This research served as a valuable introduction into performing epidemiological studies, which gives direct experience for my future career as an epidemiologist.
Author: Madison Novosel
Faculty Advisor: Saruna Ghimire, Sociology & Gerontology
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