Poorer kids are often unhealthy kids, and unhealthy kids often stay that way their whole lives, according to a new study. Research from Montreal's McGill University shows that the lifelong health gap between the rich and poor is pretty much set by age 20.
"My research looks at how poverty and social disadvantage affect your health status. Our work was about using social circumstances as a lens to look at how people's quality of life changes as they age," said Nancy Ross, a McGill geography professor and lead author of the study, in a press release.
"What we found, basically, is that people who are more educated and with higher incomes have a better health-related quality of life over their whole lifespan, and that these health 'tracks' stay pretty parallel over time."
The study analyzed data from the Population Health Survey, looking at 17,000 Canadians who were questioned about their health seven times over 16 years between 1994 and 2007. It found that by the time Canadians turn 20, for the most part, their health-related quality of life is fixed. "This study suggests the need for policies aimed at making sure kids and teens are given the chances early in life to even out socio-economic inequalities that will affect their health as they age," said Ross.