Pollack Craig Evan, Chideya Sekai, Cubbin Catherine, Williams Brie, Dekker Mercedes, Braveman Paula
Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Am J Prev Med. 2007 Sep;33(3):250-64. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2007.04.033.
Health researchers rarely measure accumulated wealth to reflect socioeconomic status/position (SES). In order to determine whether health research should more frequently include measures of wealth, this study assessed the relationship between wealth and health.
Studies published between 1990 to 2006 were systematically reviewed. Included studies used wealth and at least one other SES measure as independent variables, and a health-related dependent variable.
Twenty-nine studies met inclusion criteria. Measures of wealth varied greatly. In most studies, greater wealth was associated with better health, even after adjusting for other SES measures. The findings appeared most consistent when using detailed wealth measures on specific assets and debts, rather than a single question. Adjusting for wealth generally decreased observed racial/ethnic disparities in health.
Health studies should include wealth as an important SES indicator. Failure to measure wealth may result in under-estimating the contribution of SES to health, such as when studying the etiology of racial/ethnic disparities. Validation is needed for simpler approaches to measuring wealth that would be feasible in health studies.
健康研究人员很少通过衡量累积财富来反映社会经济地位（SES）。为了确定健康研究是否应更频繁地纳入财富衡量指标，本研究评估了财富与健康之间的关系。
对1990年至2006年间发表的研究进行系统综述。纳入的研究将财富和至少一项其他社会经济地位衡量指标用作自变量，以及一项与健康相关的因变量。
29项研究符合纳入标准。财富衡量指标差异很大。在大多数研究中，即使在对其他社会经济地位衡量指标进行调整后，更多的财富仍与更好的健康状况相关。在使用关于特定资产和债务的详细财富衡量指标而非单个问题时，研究结果似乎最为一致。对财富进行调整通常会减少观察到的健康方面的种族/民族差异。
健康研究应将财富作为一个重要的社会经济地位指标纳入。未能衡量财富可能导致低估社会经济地位对健康的贡献，例如在研究种族/民族差异的病因时。对于在健康研究中可行的更简单的财富衡量方法，需要进行验证。
