Age-Adjusted Heart Disease Mortality Rates in Local Communities: Racial and Spatial Disparities and Correlates

• In Event: 343 - Section on Medical Sociology Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 03. Health Disparities

Abstract

Background and Purpose. Heart disease (HD) has been the leading cause of death in the US for over fifty years. Aggregated data provide information about how the country or individual states are faring with respect to HD mortality, but disaggregation provides data that may facilitate targeted interventions and community engagement.
Methods. We analyzed deaths from HD to residents of Chicago to calculate age-adjusted HD mortality rates (AAHDMR). We calculated AAHDMRs for Chicago by race/ethnicity, sex, and community area. We also examined the correlation between AAHDMR and (a) racial/ethnic composition of a community area, and (b) median household income.
Results. The AAHDMR for Chicago (233.0 per 100,000 population) was significantly higher than the national rate (192.5). Within both the U.S. and Chicago, the highest AAHDMR were found among Non-Hispanic Blacks, followed by Non-Hispanic Whites, and then Hispanics. There was a strong, positive correlation between the proportion of Black residents in a community area and the AAHDMR (0.59). There was a strong, negative relationship between household income and the AAHDMR for the entire city (-0.58) and for the predominantly Black community areas (-0.65). For predominantly Hispanic community areas, the relationship was strong, positive, and significant (0.71).
Conclusions.
These data provide insight into where the worst HD mortality problems reside in Chicago. We hope this data can be used to work toward the development of solutions to the very high HD mortality rates observed in several of Chicago’s community areas and in similar communities throughout the United States.

Authors

• Bijou Reid Hunt, Sinai Health System

• Maralee Kanin, Rosalind Franklin University