Health Effects of Poverty | Health And Fitness

What are the Health Effects of Poverty?

A large body of research suggests that health  is connected to people's socioeconomic level and lifestyle.

Several research done across the world have confirmed the link between socioeconomic position and health.
All research have proven that socioeconomic level has a significant influence on health; nevertheless, the mechanism underlying this association has been debated. 

What exactly is poverty? 

Individuals, families, and communities within a population are said to be poor if they lack the resources to obtain the type of diet, participate in lifestyle activities, and have the living conditions and resources that the majority of society to which these individuals, families, and groups belong has.

Receiving income-related welfare payments has been used as a measure of poverty in the United Kingdom.This can include job seekers allowance, housing benefits, council tax benefits, or working and child tax credits. 

Poverty metrics have also included objective and subjective indices of material deprivation, such as festivities, all-weather clothing, the capacity to travel, and access to a car. 

Poverty in relation to other health-related aspects 

The World health Organization's (WHO) Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases (2013–2020) identified seven risk factors in 2000.

These include alcohol usage, inadequate physical exercise, cigarette use, high blood pressure, high salt or sodium consumption, diabetes, and obesity.
These are known as the 25 x 25 risk factors; by focusing on these risk factors, the WHO planned to reduce premature death from noncommunicable illnesses by 25% by 2025.

The Global Burden of Illness Collaboration, the world's biggest research of health trends, has discovered risk variables connected with the burden of disease and injury in 21 globe regions.

Poor socioeconomic conditions are one of the biggest predictors of morbidity and premature death worldwide; nonetheless, poverty is not considered a modifiable risk factor in either of these critical global health measures.

According to a report published in The Lancet and organised by Imperial College London, socioeconomic position has the same influence on health as smoking or a sedentary lifestyle, with a 2.1-year drop in life expectancy, which is equal to being inactive (which is estimated to cause a reduction in life expectancy of 2.4 years).  

Socioeconomic status is a measure of an individual's or family's economic and social standing in comparison to others in a population.This is based on earnings, education, and employment.Despite the fact that these factors are known to affect health on their own, early studies did not compare the impact of low socioeconomic status with other major risk factors on health.Indeed, when predicting health  outcomes, global health policies do not take into account risk factors such as poverty and a lack of education. 

The poll included 1.7 million respondents from the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Portugal, Italy, the United States, and Australia.They compared people' socioeconomic level to many risk factors specified by the WHO, such as cigarette use, improper food, physical inactivity, and alcohol misuse.Overall, researchers discovered that those with low socioeconomic status were 46% more likely to die young than those with higher socioeconomic status.

The highest risk variables were compared to a variety of other factors based on the amount of years lost in projected life.Smoking and diabetes were the culprits that caused the most years lost, lowering life expectancy by 4.8 and 3.9 years, respectively.High blood pressure, obesity, and excessive alcohol consumption were associated with 1.6, 0.7, and 0.5 years lost, respectively.

The findings of this study demonstrated that low socioeconomic status, in addition to traditional health  risk factors, should be targeted as part of global and national health  strategies to reduce the risk of premature mortality.  

What are the consequences of poverty? 

Poverty has a variety of effects on people's health  at various phases of life, as well as their total life expectancy.In England, for example, between 2009 and 2013, the life expectancy for people in the most destitute districts was 7.9 years higher for males and 5.9 years higher for women.

Furthermore, the Kings' Fund discovered that, between 1999 and 2010, the majority of places in England with low life expectancy also had a large number of persons earning little or no earnings. 

Poverty in childhood

Poverty may have an influence on children even before they are born.

According to a poll conducted by the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child health  and the Child poverty Action Group, two-thirds of doctors believe that poverty in low-income communities is a substantial contribution to the bad health  of children with whom they deal.

Babies born in the most poor parts of the United Kingdom weigh 200 g less than those born in more prosperous areas, which may have an influence on cognitive development. 

Babies born into poverty are also more likely to die within the first year of life and to be bottle-fed.In the most deprived areas, 73% of women initiated breastfeeding, compared to 89% of women in the least deprived areas. 

Children born into poverty are also more prone to develop chronic diseases like asthma, as well as diet-related issues including dental decay, malnutrition, diabetes, and obesity.

According to a 2016 NHS Digital analysis, children living in the most underprivileged parts of England are more than twice as likely as those living in the least poor areas to become fat.

By the age of 11, 26% of children in the poorest areas were obese, compared to 11.7% in the least poor areas. 

Along with physical health, children from low-income families are more than three times more likely to suffer from mental health problems than their richer classmates.

Child poverty has been shown to have a direct detrimental impact on emotional, social, cognitive, and developmental outcomes.

As a result, poverty continues to have long-term effects on people's health while also compounding this effect owing to limited life opportunities.

Those who grow up in poverty are more likely to have poor mental and physical health as adults, putting them at risk of life-threatening, severe, long-term diseases. 

Longitudinal studies have shown that poor children have an increased risk of dying as adults.

This includes all-cause mortality, which includes the risk of dying from cancer, cardiovascular disease, and alcohol-related causes. 

Poverty and adulthood 

Long-term problems are more common in persons from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

Diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, arthritis, and hypertension are examples of these illnesses.In England, for example, 40% of persons aged 45 to 64 living on a low income suffer long-term diseases.This is more than double the rate among people of the same age with higher-than-average salaries. 

According to the Mental health  Foundation, 3/4 of people in the lowest household income bracket have reported poor mental health, compared to 6/10 of those in the highest household income bracket.Furthermore, poverty, unemployment, and social exclusion are linked to higher rates of schizophrenia and admission to specialist psychiatric care. 

Overall, systematic evidence-based interventions and policies to reduce health  inequalities are desperately needed.One of several strategies for improving the overall health  of the population, particularly those living in poverty in the most deprived areas, is to embed lifestyle interventions in public health  policies.