Abstract
Objectives: To estimate the causal effect of health conditions and risk factors on social and socioeconomic outcomes in UK Biobank. Evidence on socioeconomic impacts is important to understand because it can help governments, policy-makers and decision-makers allocate resources efficiently and effectively.
Design: We used Mendelian randomization to estimate the causal effects of eight health conditions (asthma, breast cancer, coronary heart disease, depression, eczema, migraine, osteoarthritis, type 2 diabetes) and five health risk factors (alcohol intake, body mass index [BMI], cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, smoking) on 19 social and socioeconomic outcomes.
Setting: UK Biobank.
Participants: 337,009 men and women of white British ancestry, aged between 39 and 72 years. Main outcome measures: Annual household income, employment, deprivation (measured by the Townsend deprivation index [TDI]), degree level education, happiness, loneliness, and 13 other social and socioeconomic outcomes.
Results: Results suggested that BMI, smoking and alcohol intake affect many socioeconomic outcomes. For example, smoking was estimated to reduce household income (mean difference = -24,394, 95% confidence interval (CI): -33,403 to -15,384), the chance of owning accommodation (absolute percentage change [APC] = -21.5%, 95% CI: -29.3% to -13.6%), being satisfied with health (APC = -32.4%, 95% CI: -48.9% to -15.8%), and of obtaining a university degree (APC = -73.8%, 95% CI: -90.7% to -56.9%), while also increasing deprivation (mean difference in TDI = 1.89, 95% CI: 1.13 to 2.64, approximately 236% of a decile of TDI). There was evidence that asthma increased deprivation and decreased both household income and the chance of obtaining a university degree, and migraine reduced the chance of having a weekly leisure or social activity, especially in men. For other associations, estimates were null.
Conclusions: Higher BMI, alcohol intake and smoking were all estimated to adversely affect multiple social and socioeconomic outcomes. Effects were not detected between health conditions and socioeconomic outcomes using Mendelian randomization, with the exceptions of depression, asthma and migraines. This may reflect true null associations, selection bias given the relative health and age of participants in UK Biobank, and/or lack of power to detect effects.
Design: We used Mendelian randomization to estimate the causal effects of eight health conditions (asthma, breast cancer, coronary heart disease, depression, eczema, migraine, osteoarthritis, type 2 diabetes) and five health risk factors (alcohol intake, body mass index [BMI], cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, smoking) on 19 social and socioeconomic outcomes.
Setting: UK Biobank.
Participants: 337,009 men and women of white British ancestry, aged between 39 and 72 years. Main outcome measures: Annual household income, employment, deprivation (measured by the Townsend deprivation index [TDI]), degree level education, happiness, loneliness, and 13 other social and socioeconomic outcomes.
Results: Results suggested that BMI, smoking and alcohol intake affect many socioeconomic outcomes. For example, smoking was estimated to reduce household income (mean difference = -24,394, 95% confidence interval (CI): -33,403 to -15,384), the chance of owning accommodation (absolute percentage change [APC] = -21.5%, 95% CI: -29.3% to -13.6%), being satisfied with health (APC = -32.4%, 95% CI: -48.9% to -15.8%), and of obtaining a university degree (APC = -73.8%, 95% CI: -90.7% to -56.9%), while also increasing deprivation (mean difference in TDI = 1.89, 95% CI: 1.13 to 2.64, approximately 236% of a decile of TDI). There was evidence that asthma increased deprivation and decreased both household income and the chance of obtaining a university degree, and migraine reduced the chance of having a weekly leisure or social activity, especially in men. For other associations, estimates were null.
Conclusions: Higher BMI, alcohol intake and smoking were all estimated to adversely affect multiple social and socioeconomic outcomes. Effects were not detected between health conditions and socioeconomic outcomes using Mendelian randomization, with the exceptions of depression, asthma and migraines. This may reflect true null associations, selection bias given the relative health and age of participants in UK Biobank, and/or lack of power to detect effects.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | dyaa114 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | International Journal of Epidemiology |
| Volume | 0 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 18 Aug 2020 |
Research Groups and Themes
- Physical and Mental Health
Access to Document
- Full-text PDF (final published version)
This is the final published version of the article (version of record). It first appeared online via Oxford University Press at https://academic.oup.com/ije/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ije/dyaa114/5893666. Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.
Handle.net
Full-text PDF (author accepted manuscript)
Accepted author manuscript, 410 KB