New mothers living on very low incomes are more than 20 times more likely to experience multiple health problems than new mothers living on high incomes

The Centre for Research on Inner City Health analyzed health survey data representative of more than 75,000 Canadian women who recently had given birth. Researchers looked at the relationship between low income and the risk of experiencing three to five of these health conditions at the same time: adverse birth outcomes, postpartum depression, serious abuse, hospitalization during pregnancy and frequent stressful life events.

“The results were staggering,” says Patricia O’Campo. “We found that new mothers living on very low incomes were more than 20 times more likely to experience multiple health problems than new mothers living on high incomes. Compare this to the ‘single disease’ method through which we often find that people living on low incomes are only twice as likely — if that — to experience a specific health problem.”

These findings tell us that low income doesn’t just lead to one disease or another. Instead, it has wide-ranging impacts on the health of individuals and communities. These findings also tell us that, as researchers, we’ve been using the wrong tools, and typically underestimating the full impact of income on health.  –Patricia O’Campo

Dr. O’Campo writes in an op-ed article that “evidence suggests the incredible potential of focusing our attention on low income itself.” If we want to know how to improve the health of Canadians on a large scale, she says, programs and health system changes – while very important – are not the answer. The answer is to institute policies that address the social determinants of health, such as education, housing and employment, and change the conditions themselves.

Dr. Patricia O’Campo is an expert advisor with EvidenceNetwork.ca and a social epidemiologist and the Director of the Centre for Research on Inner City Health at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. She is also a professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health Sciences at the University of Toronto and holds the Alma and Baxter Ricard Chair of Inner City Health Research.

We speak with Patricia O’Campo.

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RELATED | Vancouver Sun: Poverty is linked to multiple health problems in new mothers, study finds (August 29, 2013) | Centre for Research on Inner City Health: Raising income could dramatically improve health outcomes for mothers and babies | Maternal and Child Health Journal: Aligning Method with Theory: A Comparison of Two Approaches to Modeling the Social Determinants of Health (December 2012) |

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Towards Innovative Solutions – CRICH & Social Change: Centre for Research on Inner City Health Director Dr. Patricia O’Campo explains why social innovation and social justice are at the heart of CRICH activities (Sept. 6, 2011)