Changes in Neighborhood Socioeconomic Deprivation and Mortality in US Adults

Abstract

Low neighborhood socioeconomic status has been linked to adverse health outcomes. However, it is unclear whether changing the neighborhood may influence health. We examined the 10-year change in neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation in relation to mortality rate among 288,555 participants (age 51-70) who enrolled in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study in 1995-1996 (baseline) and did not move during the study. Changes in neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation between 1990 and 2000 was measured by US Census data at the census tract level. All-cause, cardiovascular and cancer deaths were ascertained by annual linkage to the Social Security Administration Death Master File between 2000 and 2011. Overall, our results suggested that improvement in neighborhood socioeconomic status was associated with lower mortality rate, while deterioration was associated with higher mortality rate. More specially, a 30 percentile points reduction in neighborhood deprivation among more deprived neighborhoods was associated with 11% and 19% reduction in total mortality rate in men and women respectively. On the other hand, a 30 points increase in neighborhood deprivation in less deprived neighborhoods was associated with a 11% increase in mortality rate in men. Our findings support a longitudinal association between changing neighborhood conditions and mortality.