Short answer
Substantially. In “Novel Estimates of Mortality Associated With Poverty in the US” (JAMA Internal Medicine, 2023), David Brady, Ulrich Kohler and Hui Zheng found that current poverty was associated with a 42% higher mortality hazard, and being always in poverty over the past 10 years with a 71% higher hazard. In 2019, cumulative poverty was associated with about 295,000 US deaths; only heart disease, cancer and smoking were linked to more.
Poverty and premature death risk
Coverage of analyses linking poverty to sharply higher mortality risk in the United States, including reporting that associates poverty with a large relative increase in death risk.
Why it matters: premature death concentrated among lower-income groups is a systems failure that shows up in life expectancy gaps and excess mortality tallies.
Read the linked summaries and underlying estimates carefully. The editorial take is that poverty is not just correlated with poor health; it belongs in the same conversation as major clinical risks.
https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=3737b3fd914496a1JmltdHM9MTY4MTk0ODgwMCZpZ3VpZD0zMzE3YzZjMy01YjM5LTZmODktMGE5OS1kNGFmNWExNTZlNWImaW5zaWQ9NTIxNg&ptn=3&hsh=3&fclid=3317c6c3-5b39-6f89-0a99-d4af5a156e5b&psq=Novel+Estimates+of+Mortality+Associated+With+Poverty+in+the+US+kohler+pdf&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly9tZWRpY2FseHByZXNzLmNvbS9uZXdzLzIwMjMtMDQtcG92ZXJ0eS1mb3VydGgtZ3JlYXRlc3QtZGVhdGhzLWFuYWx5c2lzLnBkZg&ntb=1
Poverty Linked to 42% Increased Mortality Risk in US (hcplive.com)
“Cumulative poverty was associated with approximately 60% greater mortality than current poverty. Hence, cumulative poverty was associated with greater mortality than even obesity and dementia. Heart disease, cancer, and smoking were the only causes or risks with greater mortality than cumulative poverty.”
Current poverty was associated with greater mortality than major causes, such as accidents, lower respiratory diseases, and stroke. In 2019, current poverty was also associated with greater mortality than many far more visible causes—10 times as many deaths as homicide, 4.7 times as many deaths as firearms, 3.9 times as many deaths as suicide, and 2.6 times as many deaths as drug overdose.”
Frequently asked questions
How much does poverty raise premature death risk in the USA according to recent research?
A lot. A 2023 JAMA Internal Medicine study by Brady, Kohler and Zheng found current poverty was associated with a mortality hazard ratio of 1.42 (about 42% higher risk), and cumulative poverty, being always in poverty versus never over the past 10 years, with a hazard ratio of 1.71.
How many US deaths were associated with poverty?
For 2019, among people aged 15 or older, the study estimated about 183,000 deaths (6.5% of deaths) associated with current poverty and about 295,000 deaths (10.5%) associated with cumulative poverty. The authors note these estimates may be conservative.
How does poverty compare with other causes of death?
Current poverty was associated with more deaths than accidents, lower respiratory diseases or stroke, and in 2019 with 10 times as many deaths as homicide, 4.7 times as many as firearms, 3.9 times as many as suicide and 2.6 times as many as drug overdose. Cumulative poverty was associated with more deaths than obesity and dementia.
How was poverty measured in the study?
The authors analyzed Panel Study of Income Dynamics data from 1997 to 2019 for 18,995 people aged 15 or older. Poverty was measured relatively, as household income below 50% of the median, using a broad income measure that included transfers, taxes and tax credits.