Re: Socioeconomic status and subclinical atherosclerosis in older adults

摘要

We read with great interest the recently published article by Nash et al. (2011) entitled "Socioecohomic status and subclinical atherosclerosis in older adults" in the March-April 2011 issue of Preventive Medicine and appreciated the authors' original idea and methodology. However, there seem to be two errors in the Discussion section that might warrant attention. This paper demonstrates that subjects in the lowest SES group (regarding education, income, and occupation (women)) had statistically larger age-sex-adjusted carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) than those in the highest SES group. However, in the first paragraph of the Discussion we read "Higher SES as measured by education, income, and longest held job (in women) was significantly associated with larger IMT and higher plaque score." On the other hand, we understood from the results that lower SES was a risk factor for atherosclerosis.