Overview

Individual or family income and social status are strongly associated with health status. The way in which income is distributed is also linked to health. Health status is enhanced for all when the equality of income distribution is increased.

Speaking more specifically to injury prevention, Individuals throughout the Atlantic provinces who are from a lower socioeconomic status are more susceptible to injury than individuals from a higher socioeconomic background.

Socioeconomic status is a social determinant of health which encompasses and is linked to many other determinants which influence one's risk of being injured. 

• The Canadian Institute for Health Information reports that Canadians from a lower socioeconomic status experience injury at a rate 1.3 times higher than those from higher socioeconomic backgrounds.
• It is estimated that if all Canadians had the injury rates of higher socioeconomic populations, there would have been 21,000 fewer injury hospitalizations in 2008-2009. 
• In Canada, low-income individuals are 3.2 times more likely to die by suicide than individuals of middle- or high-income groups. 
• One Canadian study demonstrated that children living in low-income neighborhoods, particularly in rural areas, had greater rates of hospitalization related to motor vehicle injury than children from wealthier neighborhoods. 
• Child safety seat use is lowest among rural and low-income families, at least in part because of financial barriers to purchasing suitable equipment. 

Oliver, L., Kohen, D. (2009). Neighbourhood income gradients in hospitalizations due to motor vehicle traffic incidents among Canadian children. Injury Prevention 15:163–9. 23 Zaza, S., Sleet,

D., Thompson, R., Sosin, D., Bolen, J. and the Task Force on Community Preventive Services. (2001). Reviews of evidence regarding interventions to increase use of child safety seats. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 21(4S):31–48.