Income disparities in life expectancy in the City of Toronto and Region of Peel, Ontario

Introduction To understand the lack of a gradient in mortality by neighbourhood income in a previous study, we used individual-level data from the 1991–2001 Canadian census mortality follow-up study to examine income-related disparities in life expectancy and probability of survival to age 75 years in the City of Toronto and Region of Peel. Methods We calculated period life tables for each sex and income adequacy quintile, overall and separately for immigrants and non-immigrants. Results For all cohort members of both sexes, including both immigrants and non-immigrants, there was a clear gradient across the income quintiles, with higher life expectancy in each successively richer quintile. However, the disparities by income were much greater when the analysis was restricted to non-immigrants. The lesser gradient for immigrants appeared to reflect the higher proportion of recent immigrants in the lower income quintiles. Conclusion These findings highlight the importance of using individual-level ascertainment of income whenever possible, and of including immigrant status and period of immigration in assessments of health outcomes, especially for areas with a high proportion of immigrants.

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The influence of immigrant status and concentration on psychiatric disorder in Canada: a multi-level analysis

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291711000213 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 41 (10) ◽

pp. 2221-2231 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

N. M. Menezes ◽

K. Georgiades ◽

M. H. Boyle

Keyword(s):

Psychiatric Disorder ◽

First Generation ◽

Psychotic Disorders ◽

Individual Risk ◽

Immigrant Status ◽

Individual Level ◽

Level Data ◽

Immigrant Concentration ◽

Multi Level ◽

Neighborhood Level

BackgroundMany studies have reported an increased incidence of psychiatric disorder (particularly psychotic disorders) among first generation adult immigrants, along with an increasing risk for ethnic minorities living in low-minority concentration neighborhoods. These studies have depended mostly on European case-based databases. In contrast, North American studies have suggested a lower risk for psychiatric disorder in immigrants, although the effect of neighborhood immigrant concentration has not been studied extensively.MethodUsing multi-level modeling to disaggregate individual from area-level influences, this study examines the influence of first generation immigrant status at the individual level, immigrant concentration at the neighborhood-level and their combined effect on 12-month prevalence of mood, anxiety and substance-dependence disorders and lifetime prevalence of psychotic disorder, among Canadians.ResultsIndividual-level data came from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) 1.2, a cross-sectional study of psychiatric disorder among Canadians over the age of 15 years; the sample for analysis wasn=35 708. The CCHS data were linked with neighborhood-level data from the Canadian Census 2001 for multi-level logistic regression. Immigrant status was associated with a lower prevalence of psychiatric disorder, with an added protective effect for immigrants living in neighborhoods with higher immigrant concentrations. Immigrant concentration was not associated with elevated prevalence of psychiatric disorder among non-immigrants.ConclusionsThe finding of lower 12-month prevalence of psychiatric disorder in Canadian immigrants, with further lessening as the neighborhood immigrant concentration increases, reflects a model of person–environment fit, highlighting the importance of studying individual risk factors within environmental contexts.

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School variation in offending: A macro-level strain approach

European Journal of Criminology ◽

10.1177/1477370818819729 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 17 (6) ◽

pp. 701-722

Author(s):

Julia Sandahl

Keyword(s):

School Level ◽

Macro Level ◽

Special Focus ◽

Confounding Effect ◽

Individual Level ◽

Violent Offending ◽

Level Data ◽

Multi Level ◽

The Relationship ◽

The City

This study employs Macro-level Strain Theory (MST) as a framework to provide a better understanding of the way in which the structural and social context of Stockholm schools covaries with self-reported violent and general offending. The findings contribute to the literature in this area by directing a special focus at the interplay between the theory’s macro-level components and some individual-level mechanisms that may be assumed to condition the effect of strain on offending. Using multi-level data on 4789 students nested in 82 schools (violent offending) and 4643 students nested in 83 schools (general offending) in the City of Stockholm, the study notes significant contextual effects of anger, meaninglessness and life dissatisfaction on offending. School-level deprivation appears to have a confounding effect on the relationship between school-contextual negative affect and offending. Further, school-contextual anger influences some individuals more than others. Implications of these findings are discussed.

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Do Suicide Attempts of Mood Disorder Patients Directly Increase the Risk for a Reattempt?

Frontiers in Psychiatry ◽

10.3389/fpsyt.2020.547791 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 ◽

Author(s):

Kari I. Aaltonen ◽

Tom Rosenström ◽

Pekka Jylhä ◽

Irina Holma ◽

Mikael Holma ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Suicide Attempt ◽

Mood Disorder ◽

Major Depressive Episode ◽

Suicide Attempts ◽

Ordinal Number ◽

Major Depressive ◽

Individual Level ◽

Level Data ◽

Depressive States

Background: Preceding suicide attempts strongly predict future suicidal acts. However, whether attempting suicide per se increases the risk remains undetermined. We longitudinally investigated among patients with mood disorders whether after a suicide attempt future attempts occur during milder depressive states, indicating a possible lowered threshold for acting.Methods: We used 5-year follow-up data from 581 patients of the Jorvi Bipolar Study, Vantaa Depression Study, and Vantaa Primary Care Depression Study cohorts. Lifetime suicide attempts were investigated at baseline and during the follow-up. At follow-up interviews, life-chart data on the course of the mood disorder were generated and suicide attempts timed. By using individual-level data and multilevel modeling, we investigated at each incident attempt the association between the lifetime ordinal number of the attempt and the major depressive episode (MDE) status (full MDE, partial remission, or remission).Results: A total of 197 suicide attempts occurred among 90 patients, most during MDEs. When the dependencies between observations and individual liabilities were modeled, no association was found between the number of past suicide attempts at the time of each attempt and partial remissions. No association between adjusted inter-suicide attempt times and the number of past attempts emerged during follow-up. No indication for direct risk-increasing effects was found.Conclusion: Among mood disorder patients, repeated suicide attempts do not tend to occur during milder depressive states than in the preceding attempts. Previous suicide attempts may indicate underlying diathesis, future risk being principally set by the course of the disorder itself.

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An Italian individual-level data study investigating on the association between air pollution exposure and Covid-19 severity in primary-care setting

10.21203/rs.3.rs-244278/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Valeria Pegoraro ◽

Franca Heiman ◽

Antonella Levante ◽

Duccio Urbinati ◽

Ilaria Peduto

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Index Date ◽

Linear Mixed Model ◽

Mixed Effects ◽

Atmospheric Pollutants ◽

Exposure Level ◽

Individual Level ◽

Level Data ◽

Starting Point

Abstract BACKGROUND: Several studies have been focusing on the potential role of atmospheric pollutants in the diffusion and impact on health of Covid-19. This study’s objective was to estimate the association between ≤10 micrometers diameter particulate matter (PM10) exposure and the likelihood of experiencing pneumonia due to Covid-19 using individual-level data in Italy.METHODS: Information on Covid-19 patients was retrieved from the Italian IQVIA® Longitudinal Patient Database (LPD), a computerized network of general practitioners (GPs) including anonymous data on patients’ consultations and treatments. All patients with a Covid-19 diagnosis during March 18th, 2020 – June 30th, 2020 were included in the study. The date of first Covid-19 registration was the starting point of the 3-month follow-up (Index Date). Patients were classified based on Covid-19-related pneumonia registrations on the Index date and/or during follow-up presence/absence. Each patient was assigned individual exposure by calculating average PM10 during the 30-day period preceding the Index Date, and according to GP’s office province. A multiple generalized linear mixed model, mixed-effects logistic regression, was used to assess the association between PM10 exposure tertiles and the likelihood of experiencing pneumonia.RESULTS: Among 6,483 Covid-19 patients included, 1,079 (16.6%) had a diagnosis of pneumonia. Pneumonia patients were older, more frequently men, more health-impaired, and had a higher individual-level exposure to PM10 during the month preceding Covid-19 diagnosis. The mixed-effects model showed that patients whose PM10 exposure level fell in the second tertile had a 30% higher likelihood of having pneumonia than that of first tertile patients, and the risk for those who were in the third tertile was almost doubled.CONCLUSION: The consistent findings toward a positive association between PM10 levels and the likelihood of experiencing pneumonia due to Covid-19 make the implementation of new strategies to reduce air pollution more and more urgent.

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An Italian individual-level data study investigating on the association between air pollution exposure and Covid-19 severity in primary-care setting

BMC Public Health ◽

10.1186/s12889-021-10949-9 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Valeria Pegoraro ◽

Franca Heiman ◽

Antonella Levante ◽

Duccio Urbinati ◽

Ilaria Peduto

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Index Date ◽

Linear Mixed Model ◽

Mixed Effects ◽

Atmospheric Pollutants ◽

Exposure Level ◽

Individual Level ◽

Level Data ◽

Starting Point

Abstract Background Several studies have been focusing on the potential role of atmospheric pollutants in the diffusion and impact on health of Covid-19. This study’s objective was to estimate the association between ≤10 μm diameter particulate matter (PM10) exposure and the likelihood of experiencing pneumonia due to Covid-19 using individual-level data in Italy. Methods Information on Covid-19 patients was retrieved from the Italian IQVIA® Longitudinal Patient Database (LPD), a computerized network of general practitioners (GPs) including anonymous data on patients’ consultations and treatments. All patients with a Covid-19 diagnosis during March 18th, 2020 – June 30th, 2020 were included in the study. The date of first Covid-19 registration was the starting point of the 3-month follow-up (Index Date). Patients were classified based on Covid-19-related pneumonia registrations on the Index date and/or during follow-up presence/absence. Each patient was assigned individual exposure by calculating average PM10 during the 30-day period preceding the Index Date, and according to GP’s office province. A multiple generalized linear mixed model, mixed-effects logistic regression, was used to assess the association between PM10 exposure tertiles and the likelihood of experiencing pneumonia. Results Among 6483 Covid-19 patients included, 1079 (16.6%) had a diagnosis of pneumonia. Pneumonia patients were older, more frequently men, more health-impaired, and had a higher individual-level exposure to PM10 during the month preceding Covid-19 diagnosis. The mixed-effects model showed that patients whose PM10 exposure level fell in the second tertile had a 30% higher likelihood of having pneumonia than that of first tertile patients, and the risk for those who were in the third tertile was almost doubled. Conclusion The consistent findings toward a positive association between PM10 levels and the likelihood of experiencing pneumonia due to Covid-19 make the implementation of new strategies to reduce air pollution more and more urgent.

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Trends in remaining life expectancy at retirement age (65 years) by educational level in Norway 1961-2009

Norsk Epidemiologi ◽

10.5324/nje.v22i2.1553 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 22 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Joakim Oliu Moe ◽

Ólöf Anna Steingrímsdóttir ◽

Bjørn Heine Strand ◽

Øyvind Næss

Keyword(s):

Life Expectancy ◽

Educational Level ◽

Least Square ◽

Remaining Life ◽

Individual Level ◽

Level Data ◽

Life Years ◽

Educational Groups ◽

Remaining Life Expectancy ◽

The Difference

Background: Over the last half a century education based inequalities in life expectancy have increased in younger populations, but our knowledge of long-term trends in old-age life expectancy differentials is sparse. We investigated the trends in remaining life expectancy at age 65 (e65) according to education in Norway for the period 1961-2009.Methods: This was a register-based population study including all Norwegian residents aged 65 years and older. Individual-level data were provided by the Central Population Registry and the National Educational Database. We classified education into higher and lower education and constructed one life table for each calendar year, sex, and educational group. We tested for trends using weighted least square regression models.Results: e65 increased over the observation period for all educational groups, but the difference in e65 increased by 0.060 life years per calendar year in men and 0.025 life years per calendar year in women (P < 0.001). The increase in e65 in less-educated men slowed in the 1980s and 1990s, whereas e65 in less-educated women decelerated from the 1980s, and significantly so from 2001 (P = 0.029).Conclusions: Educational-based inequalities in e65 increased over the last half century. The increase seems to be temporal in men and might be ongoing in women. Increasing inequalities in e65 challenge public health policy and will become increasingly important in the ageing societies of the future. In addition, they imply increasing deviation from the overall life expectancy of the population, which forms the basis of the recently implemented adjustment of pension levels according to life expectancy. Divergent trends in e65 according to educational level may also have implications for future demographic projections.

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Suicide, overdose and worker exit in a cohort of Michigan autoworkers

Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health ◽

10.1136/jech-2020-214117 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. jech-2020-214117

Author(s):

Ellen A Eisen ◽

Kevin T Chen ◽

Holly Elser ◽

Sally Picciotto ◽

Corinne A Riddell ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Automobile Industry ◽

Age Groups ◽

College Education ◽

General Motors ◽

Individual Level ◽

Fatal Overdose ◽

Level Data ◽

Working Age ◽

Stable Employment

BackgroundIn recent decades, suicide and fatal overdose rates have increased in the US, particularly for working-age adults with no college education. The coincident decline in manufacturing has limited stable employment options for this population. Erosion of the Michigan automobile industry provides a striking case study.MethodsWe used individual-level data from a retrospective cohort study of 26 804 autoworkers in the United Autoworkers-General Motors cohort, using employment records from 1970 to 1994 and mortality follow-up from 1970 to 2015. We estimated HRs for suicide or fatal overdose in relation to leaving work, measured as active or inactive employment status and age at worker exit.ResultsThere were 257 deaths due to either suicide (n=202) or overdose (n=55); all but 21 events occurred after leaving work. The hazard rate for suicide was 16.1 times higher for inactive versus active workers (95% CI 9.8 to 26.5). HRs for suicide were elevated for all younger age groups relative to those leaving work after age 55. Those 30–39 years old at exit had the highest HR for suicide, 1.9 (95% CI 1.2 to 3.0). When overdose was included, the rate increased by twofold for both 19- to 29-year-olds and 30- to 39-year-olds at exit. Risks remained elevated when follow-up was restricted to 5 years after exit.ConclusionsAutoworkers who left work had a higher risk of suicide or overdose than active employees. Those who left before retirement age had higher rates than those who left after, suggesting that leaving work early may increase the risk.

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Behavior under Extreme Conditions: The Titanic Disaster

The Journal of Economic Perspectives ◽

10.1257/jep.25.1.209 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 25 (1) ◽

pp. 209-222 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Bruno S Frey ◽

David A Savage ◽

Benno Torgler

Keyword(s):

Extreme Conditions ◽

Social Scientists ◽

Physical Strength ◽

Individual Level ◽

Life And Death ◽

Probability Of Survival ◽

The People ◽

Level Data ◽

Children First ◽

Other Regarding

During the night of April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic collided with an iceberg on her maiden voyage. Two hours and 40 minutes later she sank, resulting in the loss of 1,501 lives—more than two-thirds of her 2,207 passengers and crew. This remains one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history and by far the most famous. For social scientists, evidence about how people behaved as the Titanic sunk offers a quasi-natural field experiment to explore behavior under extreme conditions of life and death. A common assumption is that in such situations, self-interested reactions will predominate and social cohesion is expected to disappear. However, empirical evidence on the extent to which people in the throes of a disaster react with self-regarding or with other-regarding behavior is scanty. The sinking of the Titanic posed a life-or-death situation for its passengers. The Titanic carried only 20 lifeboats, which could accommodate about half the people aboard, and deck officers exacerbated the shortage by launching lifeboats that were partially empty. Failure to secure a seat in a lifeboat virtually guaranteed death. We have collected individual-level data on the passengers and crew on the Titanic, which allow us to analyze some specific questions: Did physical strength (being male and in prime age) or social status (being a first- or second-class passenger) raise the survival chance? Was it favorable for survival to travel alone or in company? Does one's role or function (being a crew member or a passenger) affect the probability of survival? Do social norms, such as “Women and children first!” have any effect? Does nationality affect the chance of survival? We also explore whether the time from impact to sinking might matter by comparing the sinking of the Titanic over nearly three hours to the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915, which took only 18 minutes from when the torpedo hit the ship.

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Employment Insecurity, Incumbent Partisanship, and Voting Behavior in Comparative Perspective

Comparative Political Studies ◽

10.1177/0010414016679176 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 50 (11) ◽

pp. 1489-1523 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Agnar Freyr Helgason ◽

Vittorio Mérola

Keyword(s):

Voting Behavior ◽

Left Wing ◽

Economic Insecurity ◽

Potential Conflict ◽

Bayesian Hierarchical ◽

Welfare Policies ◽

Individual Level ◽

Employment Insecurity ◽

Level Data

We argue that occupational unemployment rates, by informing perceptions of economic insecurity, serve as a salient and powerful heuristic for aggregate economic performance. Consequently, high and rising occupational unemployment leads to negative evaluations of the economy and reduces the probability of supporting the incumbent government. Simultaneously, however, such changes shift support toward left-wing parties. Thus, economic insecurity serves as a valence issue, but is also inherently a positional issue, due to the distributional consequences of welfare policies. This brings about a potential conflict as under left-wing incumbent governments the economically insecure are cross-pressured, which increases their likelihood of exiting the electoral arena completely. We test our hypotheses using a Bayesian hierarchical multinomial model, with individual-level data from 43 elections in 21 countries. We find support for the hypothesized effects of employment insecurity on voting behavior, with a follow-up analysis supporting the posited informational mechanism.

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Employment and crime: A longitudinal follow-up of organized crime offenders

European Journal of Criminology ◽

10.1177/1477370820941287 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 147737082094128

Author(s):

Vere van Koppen ◽

Victor van der Geest ◽

Edward Kleemans ◽

Edwin Kruisbergen

Keyword(s):

Organized Crime ◽

Financial Support ◽

Fixed Effects ◽

Leadership Positions ◽

Individual Level ◽

Self Employment ◽

Level Data ◽

Percent Increase

Employment is considered to help offenders desist from crime. Studies focusing on organized crime offenders, however, have suggested that employment may promote rather than inhibit crime for these offenders, but lacked quantitative individual-level data to confirm this finding. Using a large sample of organized crime offenders ( N = 1921) and longitudinal individual data on offending, employment, income and financial support, the current study aims to clarify the role of employment in the offending careers of these offenders. Fixed effects models show the effects of employment, self-employment and employment on the payroll. For organized crime offenders, being employed is associated with a 10 percent increase in offending and having their own business is associated with a 23 percent increase in offending. For organized crime offenders in leadership positions, employment is associated with a 47 percent increase in offending and owning a business is associated with a 68 percent increase in offending.

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