Evaluating options for measurement of neighborhood socioeconomic context: evidence from a myocardial infarction case-control study

Health Place. 2008 Sep;14(3):453-67. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2007.09.004. Epub 2007 Sep 21.

Abstract

We hypothesized that neighborhood socioeconomic context would be most strongly associated with risk of myocardial infarction (MI) for smaller "neighborhood" definitions. We used data on 487 non-fatal, incident MI cases and 1873 controls from a case-control study in Washington State. Census data on income, home ownership, and education were used to estimate socioeconomic context across four neighborhood definitions: 1 km buffer, block group, census tract, and ZIP code. No neighborhood definition led to consistently stronger associations with MI. Although we confirmed the association between neighborhood socioeconomic measures and risk of MI, we did not find these associations sensitive to neighborhood definition.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Case-Control Studies
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Myocardial Infarction / epidemiology
  • Myocardial Infarction / etiology*
  • Residence Characteristics / classification*
  • Residence Characteristics / statistics & numerical data
  • Social Class*
  • Washington / epidemiology