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Living in a neighborhood with poor access to food and poor walkability puts people at risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD)—and according to researchers from Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, African Americans seemed to have the highest risk.
In a CDC-funded study, the researchers examined the relationship between neighborhood-level food access and walkability on premature CVD mortality rates in Atlanta, using census tracts to map neighborhoods. Atlanta is in Fulton County, which has a food insecurity rating of nearly 20%. Food access was defined as the percentage of no-vehicle households living beyond a 0.9-mile radius of a food outlet in 2012. Walkability was measured in relationship to amenities, population density, and road metrics.
The researchers found no significant difference in walkability scores between high-poverty and low-poverty census tracts. However, they found significant racial differences: Census tracts with high concentrations of minority populations had higher levels of poor food access, poor walkability, and premature CVD mortality.
Of 124 census tracts, 87 contained 73% of the city’s population aged 35 to 64 years and accounted for 1,225 deaths between 2010-2014, with a premature CVD mortality rate of 11 per 1,000. Black premature CVD deaths accounted for nearly 85% of the premature CVD deaths in all census tracts—a “disproportionate number,” the researchers say, because blacks make up only 52% of the city’s total population aged 35 to 64 years.
The findings can be used to “calibrate” neighborhood interventions, based on racial/ethnic or other demographic characteristics, the researchers suggest. They add that the results highlight the need to examine racially stratified health outcomes.
Living in a neighborhood with poor access to food and poor walkability puts people at risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD)—and according to researchers from Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, African Americans seemed to have the highest risk.
In a CDC-funded study, the researchers examined the relationship between neighborhood-level food access and walkability on premature CVD mortality rates in Atlanta, using census tracts to map neighborhoods. Atlanta is in Fulton County, which has a food insecurity rating of nearly 20%. Food access was defined as the percentage of no-vehicle households living beyond a 0.9-mile radius of a food outlet in 2012. Walkability was measured in relationship to amenities, population density, and road metrics.
The researchers found no significant difference in walkability scores between high-poverty and low-poverty census tracts. However, they found significant racial differences: Census tracts with high concentrations of minority populations had higher levels of poor food access, poor walkability, and premature CVD mortality.
Of 124 census tracts, 87 contained 73% of the city’s population aged 35 to 64 years and accounted for 1,225 deaths between 2010-2014, with a premature CVD mortality rate of 11 per 1,000. Black premature CVD deaths accounted for nearly 85% of the premature CVD deaths in all census tracts—a “disproportionate number,” the researchers say, because blacks make up only 52% of the city’s total population aged 35 to 64 years.
The findings can be used to “calibrate” neighborhood interventions, based on racial/ethnic or other demographic characteristics, the researchers suggest. They add that the results highlight the need to examine racially stratified health outcomes.
Living in a neighborhood with poor access to food and poor walkability puts people at risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD)—and according to researchers from Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, African Americans seemed to have the highest risk.
In a CDC-funded study, the researchers examined the relationship between neighborhood-level food access and walkability on premature CVD mortality rates in Atlanta, using census tracts to map neighborhoods. Atlanta is in Fulton County, which has a food insecurity rating of nearly 20%. Food access was defined as the percentage of no-vehicle households living beyond a 0.9-mile radius of a food outlet in 2012. Walkability was measured in relationship to amenities, population density, and road metrics.
The researchers found no significant difference in walkability scores between high-poverty and low-poverty census tracts. However, they found significant racial differences: Census tracts with high concentrations of minority populations had higher levels of poor food access, poor walkability, and premature CVD mortality.
Of 124 census tracts, 87 contained 73% of the city’s population aged 35 to 64 years and accounted for 1,225 deaths between 2010-2014, with a premature CVD mortality rate of 11 per 1,000. Black premature CVD deaths accounted for nearly 85% of the premature CVD deaths in all census tracts—a “disproportionate number,” the researchers say, because blacks make up only 52% of the city’s total population aged 35 to 64 years.
The findings can be used to “calibrate” neighborhood interventions, based on racial/ethnic or other demographic characteristics, the researchers suggest. They add that the results highlight the need to examine racially stratified health outcomes.