IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i24p13192-d702260.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Developmental Origins of Cardiovascular Disease: Understanding High Mortality Rates in the American South

Author

Listed:
  • Garrett T. Senney

    (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, 400 7th Street SW, Washington, DC 20219, USA
    The views in this paper are those of the authors and do not reflect those of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency or the Department of the Treasury.)

  • Richard H. Steckel

    (Economics, Anthropology, and History Departments, Emeritus, Ohio State University 1945 N. High St., Columbus, OH 43210, USA)

Abstract

While many social scientists view heart disease as the outcome of current conditions, this cannot fully explain the significant geographic disparities in cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality rates in the USA. The developmental origins hypothesis proposes that CVD vulnerability is created by poor conditions in utero that underbuilds major organs relative to those needed to process lush nutrition later in life. The American South underwent an economic transformation from persistent poverty to rapid economic growth in the post-World War II era. We use state-level data on income growth and current conditions to explain variation in CVD mortality rates in 2010–2011. Our proxy for unbalanced physical growth, the ratio of median household income in 1980 to that in 1950, has a large systematic influence on CVD mortality, an impact that increases dramatically with age. The income ratio combined with smoking, obesity, healthcare access, and education explain more than 70% of the variance in CVD mortality rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Garrett T. Senney & Richard H. Steckel, 2021. "Developmental Origins of Cardiovascular Disease: Understanding High Mortality Rates in the American South," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-14, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:24:p:13192-:d:702260
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/24/13192/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/24/13192/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Masters, R.K. & Reither, E.N. & Powers, D.A. & Yang, Y.C. & Burger, A.E. & Link, B.G., 2013. "The impact of obesity on US mortality levels: The importance of age and cohort factors in population estimates," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 103(10), pages 1895-1901.
    2. Masters, R.K. & Reither, E.N. & Powers, D.A. & Yang, Y.C. & Burger, A.E. & Link, B.G., 2016. "Erratum: The impact of obesity on US mortality levels: The importance of age and cohort factors in population estimates (American Journal of Public Health (2013) 103:10 (1895-1901) DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 106(7), pages 1-15.
    3. Patrick Bateson & David Barker & Timothy Clutton-Brock & Debal Deb & Bruno D'Udine & Robert A. Foley & Peter Gluckman & Keith Godfrey & Tom Kirkwood & Marta Mirazón Lahr & John McNamara & Neil B. Metc, 2004. "Developmental plasticity and human health," Nature, Nature, vol. 430(6998), pages 419-421, July.
    4. Mary Mceniry & Alberto Palloni, 2010. "Early life exposures and the occurrence and timing of heart disease among the older adult Puerto Rican population," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 47(1), pages 23-43, February.
    5. Garrett T. Senney & Richard H. Steckel, 2022. "The Continuing Puzzle of Hypertension Among African Americans: Developmental Origins and the Mid-century Socioeconomic Transformation," Studies in Economic History, in: Patrick Gray & Joshua Hall & Ruth Wallis Herndon & Javier Silvestre (ed.), Standard of Living, chapter 0, pages 19-41, Springer.
    6. Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2005. "The Relationship Between Education and Adult Mortality in the United States," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 72(1), pages 189-221.
    7. John Lynch & Sam Harper & George Davey Smith & Nancy Ross & Michael Wolfson & Jim Dunn, 2004. "US regional and national cause-specific mortality and trends in income inequality: descriptive findings," Demographic Research Special Collections, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 2(8), pages 183-228.
    8. Devine, Carol M. & Jastran, Margaret & Jabs, Jennifer & Wethington, Elaine & Farell, Tracy J. & Bisogni, Carole A., 2006. ""A lot of sacrifices:" Work-family spillover and the food choice coping strategies of low-wage employed parents," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(10), pages 2591-2603, November.
    9. Alan D. Lopez & Colin D. Mathers & Majid Ezzati & Dean T. Jamison & Christopher J. L. Murray, 2006. "Global Burden of Disease and Risk Factors," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7039, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Richard H. Steckel & Garrett T. Senney, 2015. "Developmental Origins of Cardiovascular Disease: Understanding High Mortality Rates in the American South," Working Papers 15-01, Ohio State University, Department of Economics.
    2. Richard H. Steckel & Garrett Senney, 2015. "Historical Origins of a Major Killer: Cardiovascular Disease in the American South," NBER Working Papers 21809, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. John Gibson & Steven Stillman & David McKenzie & Halahingano Rohorua, 2013. "Natural Experiment Evidence On The Effect Of Migration On Blood Pressure And Hypertension," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(6), pages 655-672, June.
    4. Molly A. Martin & Margaret Gough Courtney & Adam M. Lippert, 2022. "The Risks and Consequences of Skipping Meals for Low-Income Mothers," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(6), pages 2613-2644, December.
    5. Bencsik, Panka & Lusher, Lester & Taylor, Rebecca, 2021. "Slow Traffic, Fast Food," 2021 Annual Meeting, August 1-3, Austin, Texas 313856, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    6. Bencsik, Panka & Lusher, Lester & Taylor, Rebecca L.C., 2025. "Slow traffic, fast food: The effects of time lost on food store choice," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    7. Lin, Ming-Jen & Liu, Elaine M., 2014. "Does in utero exposure to Illness matter? The 1918 influenza epidemic in Taiwan as a natural experiment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 152-163.
    8. McDade, Thomas W. & Meyer, Jess M. & Koning, Stephanie M. & Harris, Kathleen Mullan, 2021. "Body mass and the epidemic of chronic inflammation in early mid-adulthood," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).
    9. Lei, Xiaoyan & Sun, Xiaoting & Strauss, John & Zhang, Peng & Zhao, Yaohui, 2014. "Depressive symptoms and SES among the mid-aged and elderly in China: Evidence from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study national baseline," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 224-232.
    10. Nikoletta Vidra & Maarten J. Bijlsma & Sergi Trias-Llimós & Fanny Janssen, 2018. "Past trends in obesity-attributable mortality in eight European countries: an application of age–period–cohort analysis," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 63(6), pages 683-692, July.
    11. Lei, Xiaoyan & Sun, Xiaoting & Strauss, John & Zhao, Yaohui & Yang, Gonghuan & Hu, Perry & Hu, Yisong & Yin, Xiangjun, 2014. "Health outcomes and socio-economic status among the mid-aged and elderly in China: Evidence from the CHARLS national baseline data," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 3(C), pages 29-43.
    12. Carlo Giovanni Camarda, 2019. "Smooth constrained mortality forecasting," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 41(38), pages 1091-1130.
    13. Madsen, Mia & Andersen, Per K. & Gerster, Mette & Andersen, Anne-Marie N. & Christensen, Kaare & Osler, Merete, 2014. "Are the educational differences in incidence of cardiovascular disease explained by underlying familial factors? A twin study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 182-190.
    14. Reither, Eric N. & Masters, Ryan K. & Yang, Yang Claire & Powers, Daniel A. & Zheng, Hui & Land, Kenneth C., 2015. "Should age-period-cohort studies return to the methodologies of the 1970s?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 356-365.
    15. Li, Yaoyue & Wang, Guixin & Li, Guofeng, 2021. "Educational attainment of offspring and obesity among older adults in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 286(C).
    16. Steven A Cohen & Mary L Greaney & Natalie J Sabik, 2018. "Assessment of dietary patterns, physical activity and obesity from a national survey: Rural-urban health disparities in older adults," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(12), pages 1-15, December.
    17. Lisa Stolzenberg & Stewart J. D’Alessio & Jamie L. Flexon, 2019. "The Impact of Violent Crime on Obesity," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-12, December.
    18. Lei, Xiaoyan & Sun, Xiaoting & Strauss, John & Zhao, Yaohui & Yang, Gonghuan & Hu, Perry & Hu, Yisong & Yin, Xiangjun, 2014. "Reprint of: Health outcomes and socio-economic status among the mid-aged and elderly in China: Evidence from the CHARLS national baseline data," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 4(C), pages 59-73.
    19. Perelman, Julian, 2014. "Are chronic diseases related to height? Results from the Portuguese National Health Interview Survey," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 15(C), pages 56-66.
    20. Wanchuan Lin & Kathryn McEvilly & Juan Pantano, 2016. "Obesity and sex ratios in the U.S," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 269-292, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:24:p:13192-:d:702260. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.