Living in poor neighborhoods raises risks for heart disease and stroke

According to a new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine, the incidence of heart disease and associated fatalities are higher for people who live in poor neighborhoods vs. those who live in more affluent areas. They found that new cases of heart attacks and stroke were 1.9 times higher for women and 1.5 times higher for men who lived in high-deprivation vs. low-deprivation neighborhoods. Census data was used to determine the level of neighborhood “deprivation,� which was measured by an index of education, income, unemployment and welfare assistance levels. I am not sure why this research would be thought to find anything new. Those of us who have managed public health programs have known this for years.