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From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:
Low-income adults are more likely to have very high levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a risk factor for heart disease, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Southern California.
The study, published in the current issue of Brain, Behavior and Immunity, finds that among adults with income levels at or below the poverty line, 15.7 percent had very high levels of CRP, compared to only 9.1 percent of those in families above the poverty line.
"We have long known that poor people have worse health," said Eileen Crimmins, corresponding author and professor in the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology.
"This paper provides evidence that people living at or near the poverty line are almost twice as likely to have very high CRP, which poses risks for long-term, chronic conditions like heart disease and cognitive loss.
"This suggests that even beyond issues like health behaviors and chronic conditions, there is something about poverty that makes people sick, and at least part of this effect is working through CRP."
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Posted on September 24, 2006 10:09 PM
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