Male–female differences in the association between socioeconomic status and atherosclerotic risk in adolescents

Recent work suggests that the association between socioeconomic status and coronary heart disease may be stronger in adult women than in men. This paper evaluates a parallel to these findings in adolescence (aged 12–17) by examining male–female differences in the association between family income and markers of atherosclerosis in the 1999–2004 US National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. We found that moving from the 25th to 75th income percentile is associated with up to a 5.4% greater reduction in the probability of low HDL-C in females compared to males, and a 4.5% greater reduction in the probability of high C-reactive protein. No associations are found between income and LDL-C in either sex. A stronger income–adiposity association in females explains part of the C-reactive protein result, but not the HDL-C result. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of lifecourse development of coronary heart disease and related health policy.