Effect of EITC on Biological Markers of Aging, Health and Mortality
- Conditions
- Tax PolicyPoverty
- Interventions
- Other: Paycheck Plus
- Registration Number
- NCT03226548
- Lead Sponsor
- Columbia University
- Brief Summary
Paycheck Plus (PP) is a randomized controlled experiment (RCT) that explores the health and longevity effects associated with increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). EITC is a national program that provides tax credits to low-income, disproportionately minority workers who file taxes. EITC is politically popular, having received bipartisan support. The EITC, along with state supplemental programs, have 7 million American families out of poverty. The investigators' preliminary data analyses show that the EITC has had large population health impacts, reversing declines in self rated health and survival among the poorest Americans.
- Detailed Description
Poverty disproportionately impacts minority and rural populations and is very strongly correlated with poor health over the life cycle, and has been hypothesized to lead to a shorter, less healthy aging process. Poverty is associated with a greater burden of disease than smoking and obesity combined and accounts for the bulk of health disparities by race. It is widely believed that an antipoverty policy, such as Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), could improve healthy aging among working-age low-income adults over the life cycle. It does so by increasing material hardship and psychological stress, two risk factors that are strongly correlated with biological markers of premature aging (e.g., shorter telomeres, higher cholesterol levels, and higher blood pressure).
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- COMPLETED
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 1350
- a US resident
- Filed taxes
- Earned <$30,000 in the previous year
- Aged 21-64
- Have a Social Security number
- Eligible for Supplemental Security Income or Social Security Disability Insurance
- Married
- Have dependent children
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description Experimental Paycheck Plus Paycheck Plus: Participants will receive four times the standard Earned Income Tax Credit after filing their annual taxes
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Mean Score on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) 4 Years Depression will be measured using the subject's score on the PHQ-9.
EuroQol 5D5L 4 years Health-related quality of life
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Mean Body Mass Index (BMI) 2 Years A measure of obesity
Telomere length 4 years Telomere length is a measure of biological age
Mortality 4 years We will link records to National Death Index for future study
Trial Locations
- Locations (1)
Westat
🇺🇸Atlanta, Georgia, United States