DOI: 10.5061/dryad.zcrjdfnd2
title: Data from: Socioeconomic status effects on health vary between rural and urban Turkana

description: Background and objectives: Understanding the social determinants of health
 is a major goal in evolutionary biology and human health research. Low
 socioeconomic status (often operationalized as absolute material wealth)
 is consistently associated with chronic stress, poor health, and premature
 death in high income countries. However, the degree to which wealth
 gradients in health are universal—or are instead made even steeper under
 contemporary, post-industrial conditions—remains poorly understood.
 Methodology: We quantified absolute material wealth and several health
 outcomes among a population of traditional pastoralists, the Turkana of
 northwest Kenya, who are currently transitioning toward a more urban,
 market-integrated lifestyle. We assessed whether wealth associations with
 health differed in subsistence-level versus urban contexts. We also
 explored the causes and consequences of wealth-health associations by
 measuring serum cortisol, potential sociobehavioral mediators in early
 life and adulthood, and adult reproductive success (number of surviving
 offspring). Results: Higher socioeconomic status and greater material
 wealth predicts better self-reported health and more offspring in
 traditional pastoralist Turkana, but worse cardiometabolic health and
 fewer offspring in urban Turkana. We do not find robust evidence for
 either direct biological mediators (i.e., cortisol) or indirect
 sociobehavioral mediators (e.g., adult diet or health behaviors, early
 life experiences) of wealth-health relationships in either context.
 Conclusions and implications: While social gradients in health are
 well-established across a variety of primate species, and in humans,
 across a variety of socioecological contexts, we show that the
 relationship between wealth and health can vary within a single
 population. Our findings emphasize that changes in economic and societal
 circumstances may directly alter how, why, and under what conditions
 socioeconomic status is predictive of health.
description: The data were collected and processed as described in Lea et al.
 2020, Science Advances and Lea et al. 2021, Evolution, Medicine, and
 Public Health.
description: Individual ID - unique identifier for each sampled
 individual<br> Waist circumference - an average of 3 measurements,
 reported in cm<br> Systolic BP - reported in mm Hg<br>
 Diastolic BP - reported in mm Hg<br> Blood glucose - measured from
 blood, reported in mg/dl<br> Body fat - measured using electrical
 impedence, reported as a percentage<br> Total cholesterol - measured
 from blood, reported in mg/dl<br> HDL cholesterol - measured from
 blood, reported in mg/dl<br> Triglycerides - measured from blood,
 reported in mg/dl<br> LDL cholesterol - measured from blood,
 reported in mg/dl<br> Sex - self reported sex<br> Age - self
 reported age<br> BMI - reported in kg/m2<br> Lifestyle - a
 categorical variable defined as in Lea et al. 2020, Science Advances and
 Lea et al. 2021, Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health<br> SES
 urban - socioeconomic status in the urban setting, defined as in Lea et
 al. 2021, Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health<br> SES pastoralist
 - socioeconomic status in the pastoralist setting defined as in Lea et al.
 2021, Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health
 Self-reported health measures (Yes/No to indicate if the person
 was experiencing this condition):<br> Bruises<br> Burning
 while peeing <br> Chest pain <br> Cough<br> Cuts or
 scrapes <br> Diarrhoea <br> Difficult bowel
 movements <br> Difficulty breathing <br> Dizziness <br>
 Fatigue or weakness <br> Headaches <br> Shortness of
 breath <br> Stomach pain <br> Swollen ankles <br>
 Vomiting <br> Worms  Missing values are denoted
 with "NA"