International Differences in Health, Longevity, and SES

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Our first objective examines impacts of early life conditions and childhood health across a set of European countries and the US on salient later life adult outcomes including adult health and socioeconomic status (SES). Differences in early life conditions are potentially an important source of international differences in adult health. Second, we will study dual pathways between SES and health with an emphasis on England and America. Pathways from SES to health are explored by examining whether future onsets of new chronic conditions using self-reports and biomarkers of disease are related to key SES markers- income, wealth, and education. We will examine whether "innovations" in economic status affect health-especially during the recent financial crisis. Health feedbacks to labor supply, income, and wealth may be quantitatively important. Health outcomes include physical and mental health, including depression, psycho-social health, overall well-being, and life satisfaction. Our third specific aim examines the relationship between alternative measures of SES and subsequent all cause and cause-specific incident mortality in England and the US. Access to financial resources may be essential in dealing with consequences of health problems after they occur. The final specific aim will examine whether differential cancer screening rates can account for significant parts of country differences in cancer rates, especially those to the disfavor of the United States. Screening is known to vary across types of cancer and is believed to be more aggressive for breast, colon, and prostate cancer in the US than the UK and low for respiratory cancer. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The research is important since it deals with the level of well being of older people in the United States compared to the rest of the Industrialized Western World. By using comparative analysis of the United States, England, and other countries, we can assess how and why over-all well being is related to health and socioeconomic status at older ages in these countries.