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Articles in Living in a neighborhood with high levels of deprivation may have negative health effects, independent of socioeconomic status on the individual level.
After adjusting for individual-level socioeconomic status, a review found that all but two of the 25 reviewed studies reported a statistically significant association between at least one measure of neighborhood socioeconomic context and health outcomes including mortality, infant/child health, chronic diseases among adults, mental health, and health behaviors.
Pickett KE, Pearl M. 2001. Multilevel analyses of neighborhood socioeconomic context and health outcomes: A critical review. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 55: 111–122.Living in more deprived neighborhoods is associated with increased all cause mortality in the US and five European countries, independent of individual socioeconomic characteristics.
van Lenthe FJ, Borrell LN, Costa G, Roux AVD, Kauppinen TM, Marinacci C, Martikainen P, Regidor E, Stafford M, Valkonen T. 2005. Neighbourhood unemployment and all cause mortality: a comparison of six countries. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 59(3): 231-237.A Swedish longitudinal study found socioeconomic contextual effects almost as large as the effect of individual 20-year cumulated income on the ischaemic heart disease mortality risk, especially among the non-elderly living in urban territories.
Chaix B, Rosvall M, Merlo J. 2007. Assessment of the magnitude of geographical variations and socioeconomic contextual effects on ischaemic heart disease mortality: a multilevel survival analysis of a large Swedish cohort. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 61(4):349-355.A study using a representative U.S. sample found that high neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage was significantly associated with poor self-reported health status by older adults and that it was not attenuated by individual-level factors.
Wight RG, Cummings JR, Miller-Martinez D, Karlamangla AS, Seeman TE, Aneshensel CS. 2008. A multilevel analysis of urban neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and health in late life. Social Science & Medicine 66(4):862-872.British studies found a significantly higher prevalence of cognitive impairment and functional impairment in elderly individuals living in socio-economically deprived areas regardless of their own socio-economic status.
Basta NE, Matthews FE, Chatfield MD, Brayne C, MRC-CFAS. 2008. Community-level socio-economic status and cognitive and functional impairment in the older population. European Journal of Public Health 18(1):48-54.
Lang IA, Llewellyn DJ, Langa KM, Wallace RB, Huppert FA, Melzer D. 2008. Neighborhood deprivation, individual socioeconomic status, and cognitive function in older people: Analyses from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Journal of the American geriatrics society 56(2):191-198.After controlling for individual-level factors, if a woman resided in a neighborhood with greater percentages of female-headed households, persons living below the poverty level, less educated people, and more recent immigrants, then her chances of being diagnosed with breast cancer at an earlier stage were diminished. Earlier detection allows earlier treatment and a higher chance of survival.
Davidson PL, Bastani R, Nakazono TT, Carreon DG. 2005. Role of community risk factors and resources on breast carcinoma stage at diagnosis. Cancer 103(5):922-930.Neighborhood SES predicted systolic blood pressure in adolescents attending two schools in Pittsburgh.
McGrath JJ, Matthews KA, Brady SS. 2006. Individual versus neighborhood socioeconomic status and race as predictors of adolescent ambulatory blood pressure and heart rate. Social Science & Medicine 63(6):1442-1453