Foreword

Association between environmental tobacco smoke exposure of children and parental socioeconomic status: a cross-sectional study in Korea

INTRODUCTION

It has been reported that most environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure of children occurs at home, and lower parental socioeconomic status (SES) increases the risk of this exposure. We estimated the independent and interactive effects of parental SES and residential area SES on ETS exposure of children at home.

METHODS

We evaluated whether ETS exposure was associated with parental SES by entering data from 7,059 school-aged children in Korea into fixed effects models. The empirical model, including the interaction variable of the level of deprivation of each residential area, was fitted with parental SES.

RESULTS

After adjustment for possible confounding variables, low paternal education (odds ratio [OR], 1.81; 95% CI, 1.30-2.54) and highly deprived areas (OR, 1.34; 95% CI, 1.06-1.69) were significantly associated with the ETS exposure of children, especially among children whose fathers had <12 years of education and lived in the most deprived area (OR, 2.04; 95% CI, 1.04-4.02).

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that the SES of residential areas may influence the ETS exposure of children directly, as well as interactively with parental SES, in Korea. Findings from this study will help inform policy decision makers that intervention to promote smoking cessation should consider not only the SES of individuals but also that of residential areas.

Area deprivation and widening inequalities in US mortality, 1969-1998

OBJECTIVES

This study examined age-, sex-, and race-specific gradients in US mortality by area deprivation between 1969 and 1998.

METHODS

A census-based area deprivation index was linked to county mortality data.

RESULTS

Area deprivation gradients in US mortality increased substantially during 1969 through 1998. The gradients were steepest for men and women aged 25 to 44 years and those younger than 25 years, with higher mortality rates observed in more deprived areas. Although area gradients were less pronounced for women in each age group, they rose sharply for women aged 25 to 44 and 45 to 64 years.

CONCLUSIONS

Areal inequalities in mortality widened because of slower mortality declines in more deprived areas. Future research needs to examine population-level social, behavioral, and medical care factors that may account for the increasing gradient.