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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Feb 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Aging Health. 2014 Jun 27;27(1):75–102. doi: 10.1177/0898264314538661

Table 3.

Associations between socioeconomic status and biomarker scores of health (incident rate ratios: eb): Males

Outcomes (Type of Model)
SEBAS Males MIDUS Males
PD (NB) CV/metabolic (P) HPA/SNS (P) INF (ZINB) PD (NB) CV/metabolic (NB) HPA/SNS (P) INF (ZINB)d
Education Model (includes age, age-squared, race/ethnicity, education a)
 (Low education omitted)
 Medium education 0.95 0.95 1.10 0.90 0.94 0.94 0.91 0.97
 High education 0.82** 0.92 0.73 0.68** 0.71** 0.76** 0.67* 0.62**
 p-value medium vs. high education 0.007 0.586 0.002 0.007 <0.001 0.001 0.042 <0.001
χ2 (2 df) 10.77** 1.02 9.69** 11.39** 34.92** 19.03** 7.84* 19.21**
Income Models (includes age, age-squared, race/ethnicity, income quartiles b)
 (Q1 omitted)
 Q2 1.00 0.95 0.90 1.07 0.83* 0.88 0.89 0.70*
 Q3 0.91 0.94 0.92 0.83 0.96 0.97 1.09 0.91
 Q4 0.78** 0.88 0.58** 0.67** 0.77** 0.82* 0.80 0.65**
 p-value Q2 vs. Q3 0.176 0.893 0.885 0.038 0.052 0.238 0.247 0.085
 p-value Q3 vs. Q4 0.023 0.416 0.008 0.120 0.004 0.029 0.083 0.022
χ2 (3 df) 14.66** 1.91 9.64* 13.41** 14.40** 7.33 3.39 10.71*
Ladder Score Models (includes age, age-squared, race/ethnicity, ladder score c)
 (Low ladder score omitted)
 Middle ladder score 0.92 0.97 0.81 0.85 0.91 1.00 0.87 0.72*
 High ladder score 0.84** 0.93 0.78 0.73** 0.90 0.96 0.93 0.73*
 p-value for middle vs. high 0.250 0.533 0.831 0.269 0.800 0.546 0.667 0.921
 χ2 (2 df) 8.18* 1.14 4.16 8.31* 3.42 0.51 0.74 8.46*
n 526 460

Note. SEBAS = Social Environment and Biomarkers of Aging Study; MIDUS = Midlife in the United States; PD = physiological dysregulation; NB = negative binomial regression model; CV/metabolic = cardiovascular and metabolic function score; P = Poisson regression model; HPA/SNS = hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis and sympathetic nervous system; INF = inflammation score; ZINB = zero-inflated negative binomial.

a

SEBAS education categories: for males, low= 0-5 years, medium=6 years, and high= 7+ years; for females, low= 0 years, medium=1-6 years, and high=7+ years. MIDUS education categories are: high school or less, some college/2 yr degree, and 4-5 yr college degree or more.

b

Income quartiles SEBAS: Q1=NT$0 - NT$144,000; Q2=NT$145,500-NT$270,000; Q3=NT$271,500-NT$605,000; and Q4=NT$620,000-NT$860,000. Income quartiles MIDUS: Q1=$0-$39,000; Q2=$39,024 - $62,500; Q3 = $62,750-$101,250; and Q4 = $101,500-$400,000. Note that 1 NT$ = 0.33 US$.

c

SEBAS ladder score categories: low=rungs 0-4; medium=rung 5; high=rungs 6-10. MIDUS ladder score categories: low=rungs 0-6; medium=rung 7; high=rungs 8-10.

d

The best fitting model for regressing the inflammation score on ladder score is the negative binomial regression model.

*

p < 0.05;

**

p<0.01