Prevention Matters

Research in developed countries has long shown that income disparities translate into significant gaps in health and longevity. But a new study shows that smoking obliterates any such advantage. According to its authors, the extra years of life that, on average, come with being in the highest social brackets are more than wiped out by smoking. The finding is based on tracking of mortality rates over a 28-year period among 15,000 men and women entering into old age.