Living In Poor Neighbourhood has Health Impact

Friday, January 09, 2009 03:49 AM

Prince George, B.C.- A new study by rsearchers at the University of B.C. shows people with chronic diseases who live in poorer areas of the province are up to two times more likely to die from chronic diseases, than patients who live in better neighbourhoods.

"Although the Canadian health care system provides essential services to all residents, evidence suggests that socioeconomic gradients in disease outcomes still persist. The main objective of our study was to investigate whether mortality, from cardiovascular disease or other causes, varies by neighbourhood socioeconomic gradients in patients accessing the healthcare system for cardiovascular disease management" says study co-author Claire Heslop

485 patients with coronary artery disease were part of the study. Their neighbourhood socioeconomic status information and their health status were followed for a little over 13 years. The research concluded that while socioeconomics had no impact on cardiovascular deaths, for every $10,000 in income diference in neighbourhoods, there was a 21-30% increase in deaths from other chronic diseases.

In particular, cancer had the highest impact as the risk of dying with that disease rose by 42% and 62% in neighbourhoods with lower median income and higher unemployment rates.

Heslop says the information should prompt a new investigation on neighbourhood effects on health. While the neighbourhoods studied were all in B.C., the exact locations were not revealed.

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