title: Income inequality and mortality: results from a longitudinal study of older residents of São Paulo, Brazil.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We determined whether community-level income inequality was associated with mortality among a cohort of older adults in São Paulo, Brazil.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed the Health, Well-Being, and Aging (SABE) survey, a sample of community-dwelling older adults in São Paulo (2000-2007). We used survival analysis to examine the relationship between income inequality and risk for mortality among older individuals living in 49 districts of São Paulo.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with individuals living in the most equal districts (lowest Gini quintile), rates of mortality were higher for those living in the second (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR] = 1.44, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.87, 2.41), third (AHR = 1.96, 95% CI = 1.20, 3.20), fourth (AHR = 1.34, 95% CI = 0.81, 2.20), and fifth quintile (AHR = 1.74, 95% CI = 1.10, 2.74). When we imputed missing data and used poststratification weights, the adjusted hazard ratios for quintiles 2 through 5 were 1.72 (95% CI = 1.13, 2.63), 1.41 (95% CI = 0.99, 2.05), 1.13 (95% = 0.75, 1.70) and 1.30 (95% CI = 0.90, 1.89), respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We did not find a dose-response relationship between area-level income inequality and mortality. Our findings could be consistent with either a threshold association of income inequality and mortality or little overall association.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02215, USA. rpabayo@hsph.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pabayo
authors.forename: Alexandre D P
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Chiavegatto Filho
authors.forename: Maria Lúcia
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Lebrão
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kawachi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009026:Mortality; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016019:Survival Analysis