Effect of EITC on Biological Markers of Aging, Health and Mortality

Poverty Clinical Trial

— PaycheckPlus  

Official title:

An Experimental Investigation Into the Impact of Socioeconomic Context on Biological Markers of Aging, Health and Mortality

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03226548
• Other study ID #: AAAQ9663 (ADD-ON)
• Secondary ID: R01AG054466
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: December 20, 2016
• Est. completion date: December 31, 2021

Study information

• Verified date: April 2022
• Source: Columbia University
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial 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.

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 information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 1350
• Est. completion date: December 31, 2021
• Est. primary completion date: December 31, 2021
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 65 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

1. a US resident

2. Filed taxes

3. Earned <$30,000 in the previous year

4. Aged 21-64

5. Have a Social Security number

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Eligible for Supplemental Security Income or Social Security Disability Insurance

2. Married

3. Have dependent children

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Poverty
• Tax Policy

Intervention

Other:
• Paycheck Plus
A four-fold increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Westat	Atlanta	Georgia

Sponsors (3)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Columbia University	MDRC, National Institute on Aging (NIA)

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Mean Score on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9)	Depression will be measured using the subject's score on the PHQ-9.	4 Years
Primary	EuroQol 5D5L	Health-related quality of life	4 years
Secondary	Mean Body Mass Index (BMI)	A measure of obesity	2 Years
Secondary	Telomere length	Telomere length is a measure of biological age	4 years
Secondary	Mortality	We will link records to National Death Index for future study	4 years