Phantom of the area: poverty-area residence and mortality in the United States.

1998/06/01 by N J Waitzman, Norman J. Waitzman, Ken R. Smith +1 · 3 citations
Social Sciences · #Health disparities and outcomes #Insurance, Mortality, Demography, Risk Management #Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies

paper · doi:10.2105/ajph.88.6.973

openalex publication_date 1998/06/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study was to conduct a national multivariate analysis on poverty-area residence and mortality in the United States. METHODS: Proportional hazards analyses were performed of the effect of poverty-area residence on the risk of mortality among adult examinees in the 1971 through 1974 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey who were followed through 1987. RESULTS: Poverty-area residence was associated with significantly elevated risk of all-cause mortality (rate ratio = 1.78, 95% confidence interval = 1.33, 2.38) and some cause-specific mortality among those aged 25 through 54 years, but not among those aged 55 through 74 years, at baseline after adjustment for several individual and household characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: Residence in poverty areas contributes to socioeconomic gradients in mortality among nonelderly adults in the United States.

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