Voting restrictions associated with health inequities in teenage birth rates

OBJECTIVES

Since the Landmark Shelby V. Holder Supreme Court Ruling, the number of laws in the United States that make it difficult to vote has increased dramatically. This may lead to legislation that limits access to health care, including options for family planning services. We determine whether voting restrictions are associated with county-level teenage birth rates.

STUDY DESIGN

This is an ecological study.

METHODS

The Cost of Voting Index, a state-level measure of barriers to voting during US elections from 1996 to 2016, was used as a proxy for access to voting. County-level teenage birth rates were obtained from the County Health Rankings data. We used multilevel modeling to determine whether restrictive voting laws were associated with county-level teenage birth rates. We tested whether associations varied across racial and socio-economic groups.

RESULTS

When confounders were included, a significant association was observed between increasing voting restrictions and teenage birth rates (β = 1.72, 95% confidence interval: 0.54, 2.89). A Cost of Voting Index-median income interaction term was tested and was statistically significant (β = -1.00, 95% confidence interval: -1.36, -0.64), indicating that the observed relationship was particularly strong among lower-income counties. The number of reproductive health clinics per capita within each state is a potential mediator.

CONCLUSION

Restrictive voting laws were associated with higher teenage birth rates, particularly for low-income counties. Future work should use methods in which a causal relation can be identified.

Do social support and community engagement act as mechanisms in the association between neighbourhood income inequality and the mental health of mothers in Calgary, Canada? A mediation analysis

PURPOSE

According to the social determinants of health framework, income inequality is a potential risk factor for adverse mental health. However, few studies have explored the mechanisms suspected to mediate this relationship. The current study addresses this gap through a mediation analysis to determine if social support and community engagement act as mediators linking neighbourhood income inequality to maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms within a cohort of new mothers living in the City of Calgary, Canada.

METHODS

Data collected at three years postpartum from mothers belonging to the All Our Families (AOF) cohort were used in the current study. Maternal data were collected between 2012 and 2015 and linked to neighbourhood socioeconomic data from the 2006 Canadian Census. Income inequality was measured using Gini coefficients derived from 2006 after-tax census data. Generalized structural equation models were used to quantify the associations between income inequality and mental health symptoms, and to assess the potential direct and indirect mediating effects of maternal social support and community engagement.

RESULTS

Income inequality was not significantly associated with higher depressive symptoms (β = 0.32, 95%CI = -0.067, 0.70), anxiety symptoms (β = 0.11, 95%CI = -0.39, 0.60), or lower social support. Income inequality was not associated with community engagement. For the depression models, higher social support was significantly associated with lower depressive symptoms (β = -0.13, 95%CI = -0.15, -0.097), while community engagement was not significantly associated with depressive symptoms (β = 0.059, 95%CI = -0.15, 0.27). Similarly, for the anxiety models, lower anxiety symptoms were significantly associated with higher levels of social support (β = -0.17, 95%CI = -0.20, -0.13) but not with higher levels of community engagement (β = 0.14, 95%CI = -0.14, 0.41).

CONCLUSION

The current study did not find clear evidence for social support or community engagement mediating the relationship between neighbourhood income inequality and maternal mental health. Future investigations should employ a broader longitudinal approach to capture changes in income inequality, potential mediators, and mental health symptomatology over time.

Income inequality and self-reported health in a representative sample of 27 017 residents of state capitals of Brazil

Background

The association between income inequality and health has been analyzed predominantly in developed countries with modest levels of inequality. The study aimed to analyze the association between income inequality and self-reported health (SRH) in the adult population of the 27 Brazilian capitals.

Methods

Individuals aged 18 years or older from the National Health survey residing in Brazilian capitals in 2013 were analyzed (n = 27 017). Bayesian multilevel models were applied after controlling for individual factors and area-level socioeconomic characteristics.

Results

We found a significant association between income inequality and SRH, even after controlling for individual and contextual factors. The results indicate greater odds of poor SRH among those living in areas with medium (OR = 1.31, 95% CI: 1.17-1.47) and high income inequality level (OR = 1.39, 95% CI: 1.24-1.56). Income inequality remained significantly associated with SRH, even after controlling for other contextual socioeconomic characteristics, such as local illiteracy rate, violence and per capita income.

Conclusions

The study highlights the importance of the individual and contextual characteristics associated with SRH. Our findings suggest that city-level income inequality can have a detrimental effect on individual health, over and above other contextual socioeconomic characteristics and individual factors.