The following University of Michigan School of Public Health researchers will present their work at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, Nov. 15-19, in Washington, D.C. For more information or assistance in arranging interviews, call Amy Reyes at 734-647-4411.

INCOME GAPS SHORTEN LIFE SPANS. A study by two U-M epidemiologists shows that Americans who live in cities with greater disparities in income are more likely to die than those who live in cities where differences in income are not as large. The effects of income inequality on Americans was examined in a recent study by John W. Lynch, an assistant research scientist at the U-M School of Public Health, and George A, Kaplan, professor and chair of epidemiology. Lynch and Kaplan investigated the association of income inequality and mortality in 282 metropolitan cities in the United States. In the most extreme cases, cities that had both high income inequality and low average income, recorded a mortality rate of 139.8 deaths per 100,000 more than areas with low inequality and high average incomes.

Lynch's presentation, "Inequality and Mortality in Metropolitan Areas in the U.S.," begins at 2:25 p.m. on Nov. 17 in the Thoroughbred Room of the Washington Hilton. The session (2197) is titled "Class Analysis and Health: From Research to Policy Action."

WHO'S USING THE MORNING AFTER PILL? Joseph W. Brown, an assistant professor of health behavior and health education, will unveil the preliminary findings of a new study that examines who is using emergency contraceptive pills (ECP), how often and why. The ongoing study is based on the charts of 1,200 patients who were prescribed ECPs from January 1996 to January 1998, and on a sample of 1,000 patients who were not prescribed ECPs. Brown is examining the extent to which ECP users share similar characteristics such as age, education, marital status and contraceptive use patterns.
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Contact: Amy Reyes
amelynr@umich.edu
734-647-4411
University of Michigan
10-Nov-1998