Yen IH, Kaplan GA. Neighborhood social environment and 11-year risk of death: multilevel evidence from the Alameda County study. American Journal of Epidemiology. 1999;149:898-907.
This study investigated the relationship between overall neighborhood social environment and 11-year mortality risk. The authors developed a three-component neighborhood social environment scale: 1) commercial stores; 2) population socioeconomic status; and 3) environment/housing. They then analyzed data from the 1983 wave of the Alameda County Study in California and deaths over 11 years using logistic regression models. The researchers found that people living in a low-quality social environment were 58 percent more likely to die than were people who lived in a high-quality social environment, even after adjusting for individual characteristics. When each component of the neighborhood social environment characteristics score was examined separately, each was found to be associated with higher risk for mortality, independent of individual risk factors. People living in neighborhoods with many commercial stores were 32 percent more likely to die than were people living in neighborhoods with few stores. People living in neighborhoods with a low housing score were 56 percent more likely to die than were people living in neighborhoods with more stores. Living in a low socioeconomic status neighborhood was associated with a 53 percent greater chance of dying, but adjustments made for individual family income largely removed this effect.
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