Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status and Cardiometabolic Outcomes in Urban Jamaica: Exploring Novel Measures
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Introduction
Cardiometabolic outcomes burden Afro-Caribbean populations disproportionately and their relationship with neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) is unclear. This study explores neighborhood SES and cardiometabolic outcomes in urban Jamaica.
Methods
We analyzed data from 833 participants (women=557, men=276) to examine associations between neighborhood SES, determined by median property sales price, and measured diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, and obesity outcomes. We adjusted for covariates using survey-weighted Poisson regression models.
Results
High neighborhood SES was associated with increased prevalence of hypertension (PR=1.33, p=0.044) and high cholesterol (PR=2.46, p<0.001) in fully adjusted models compared with low neighborhood SES. We observed increased obesity for the middle (PR=1.46, p<0.001) and high (PR=1.60, p<0.001) SES tiers and several sex-specific relationships. High neighborhood SES was associated with more obesity among women (P=1.32, p=0.015) and high total cholesterol among men (PR=4.70, p=0.005). Mid SES was associated with increased hypertension among men (PR=2.02, p=0.024).
Conclusion
Associations between neighborhood SES and cardiometabolic outcomes in urban Jamaica appear to be nonlinear and influenced by a combination of sex, individual risk factors, and neighborhood characteristics. These findings challenge some conventional assumptions about the protective effects of higher SES on health and underscore the need for a robust understanding of the complex interplay individual and neighborhood determinants in similar contexts worldwide.
