Researchers discovered a potential link between the average American's income and their life expectancy, according to a study published in The Lancet.
Researchers from the Boston University School of Public Health utilized nationally representative population-based surveys, income histories from individuals' tax records and U.S. death certificates to examine whether income disparities played a role in Americans' long-term health outcomes.
An analysis of the data found, during the period of 2001 to 2014, the average life expectancy for the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans was between 10 and 15 years greater compared to the poorest 1 percent. Wealthy men lived roughly 14.6 years longer, while wealthy women lived approximately 10.1 years longer, on average, according to the report.
Researchers also discovered that since 2001, individuals in lower socioeconomic groups showed no change in life expectancy while individuals in the middle and high-income groups gained roughly two years in life expectancy, on average, according to the report.
The authors of the study noted that if current trends continue, the gap in life expectancy between the richest and the poorest 20 percent of Americans may eventually extend to a decade, according to the report. "Without interventions to decouple income and health, or to reduce inequalities in income, we might see the emergence of a 21st century health-poverty trap and the further widening and hardening of socioeconomic inequalities in health," they wrote.