Are Wealthier Adults More at Risk of Premature Death in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso?

Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, is currently experiencing rapid population growth. Since 2008, the Ouaga HDSS following 80,000 people living in five neighborhoods on the periphery of the city, half of them living in poor, informal settlements. First analyses of the mortality data collected show that the main causes of deaths among adults aged 15 to 59 are AIDS, cardiovascular diseases and accidents; adult mortality (15 to 59) is higher in formal neighborhoods. This excess mortality seems attributable to the relatively higher wealth of households in formal neighborhoods: affluent adults are indeed more often overweight and more likely to be HIV positive; better educated adults are more likely to have accidents. In this analysis, we test (using Cox regression and data on mortality from 2008 to 2012) whether wealthier adults are more often victim of premature death, controlling for a variety of factors at the individual and household level.