The association of neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics with cardiovascular health: A quasi-experimental study of refugees to Denmark

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Neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with cardiovascular health, although it is unclear which specific aspects of neighborhoods matter most. We leveraged a natural experiment in which refugees to Denmark were quasi-randomly assigned to neighborhoods across the country during 1986–1998, creating variation in exposure to various aspects of neighborhood disadvantage. The cohort was followed through December 2018. Exposures included neighborhood-level family income, educational attainment, unemployment, and welfare transfers measured in the first neighborhood after arrival to Denmark. Outcomes included cardiovascular risk factors (hyperlipidemia, hypertension, diabetes and anxiety/depression) and cardiovascular disease (acute myocardial infarction and ischemic heart disease). Neighborhood-level income and education were most consistently associated with cardiovascular risk factors, whereas welfare transfers were most consistently associated with cardiovascular disease. Addressing these specific aspects of neighborhood disadvantage could therefore lower the risk of poor cardiovascular health among refugees. Future research is warranted to examine if results are generalizable to other immigrant groups, countries or time periods.

Original languageEnglish
Article number103128
JournalHealth and Place
Volume84
Number of pages10
ISSN1353-8292
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors

    Research areas

  • Cardiovascular disease, Cardiovascular risk factors, Neighborhood disadvantage, Policy evaluation, Quasi-experiment, Refugees

ID: 374519926