Abstract 11598: Neighbourhood Socioeconomic Status Inversely Associated With Blood Pressure Among Afro-Caribbean Youth

• Published in: Circulation (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 138; no. Suppl_1 Suppl 1; p. A11598
• Main Authors: Ferguson, Trevor S, Younger-Coleman, Novie O M, Mullings, Jasneth A, Francis, Damian K, Greene, Lisa-Gaye, Lyew-Ayee, Parris, Wilks, Rainford J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: by the American College of Cardiology Foundation and the American Heart Association, Inc 06.11.2018
• ISSN: 0009-7322; 1524-4539

IntroductionNeighbourhood characteristics are associated with several diseases, but few studies have investigated the neighbourhood effects on health in Jamaica. We evaluated the relationship between neighbourhood socioeconomic status (SES) and blood pressure (BP) among youth, 15-24 years old, in Jamaica.MethodsA pooled analysis was conducted using data from three studies (2 national surveys and a birth cohort), conducted between 2005-2008, with individual level BP, anthropometric and demographic data, and household SES. Data on neighbourhood SES were obtained from the Mona GeoInformatics Institute. Neighbourhood was defined using community boundaries from the Planning Institute of Jamaica. Community characteristics (poverty, unemployment, dependency ratio, population density, house size, proportion with tertiary education) were combined into SES scores using principal component analysis (PCA). Descriptive analyses were adjusted for clustering by community; multivariable analyses were computed using mixed effects multilevel models.ResultsAnalyses included 2556 participants (1446 females; 1110 males; mean age 17.9 ± 1.5 years) from 306 communities. PCA yielded two SES variables; the first, PCA-SES1, loaded highly positive for tertiary education and larger house size (higher value = higher SES); while the second, PCA-SES2, loaded highly positive for unemployment and population density (higher value = lower SES). Among males, PCA-SES1 was inversely associated with systolic BP (β -4.1 [95%CI -6.0, -2.1]) mmHg, p<0.001 for upper tertile and -2.4 [-4.1, -0.8], p<0.01 for middle tertile (compared to lower tertile), after adjustment for age, BMI, fasting glucose and household SES. Among females, higher PCA-SES2 (lower SES) was associated with higher systolic BP (β +2.6 [1.0, 4.2], p<0.01 for middle vs. lower tertile). PCA-SES1 was not significantly associated with systolic BP among females, while PCA-SES2 was not associated with systolic BP among males. There were no significant associations with diastolic BP. Higher PCA-SES1 was associated with lower odds of elevated BP (≥120/80) among males only.ConclusionHigher neighbourhood SES was inversely associated with BP among Jamaican youth; the effect was stronger among males than in females.