Socioeconomic issues and cardiovascular disease (with emphasis on the caregivers)

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death, disability, and poor quality of life. Several conditions are widely known as potential CVD risk factors. Increasing research is, however, showing a role for low socioeconomic status (SES) as a potential risk factor for CVD development. This chapter analyses the current epidemiological evidence on this topic, explaining the reasons why people who have low SES are at increased risk of CVD. People with low SES, in fact, have a higher prevalence of several potential CVD risk factors (such as hypertension and cigarette smoking), but other important factors (such as less access to medical care and psychosocial factors) are likely to play a relevant role. Moreover, in the last part of this chapter, attention is focused on caregiving, another condition that seems to be associated with a higher risk of developing CVD, probably for the same reasons given for low SES.