Life Course Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status Associated with Premature Mortality
, by Jennifer K. Loukissas, M.P.P.
In a population-based study of 12,610 Black and White men and women living in the United States, low neighborhood socioeconomic status experienced during young to middle adulthood was associated with higher risk of premature mortality. The relationship was most pronounced among women. The findings were published in JAMA Network Open on August 7, 2024.
Individuals who reported both low individual-level socioeconomic position and low neighborhood socioeconomic status experienced the highest risk of premature mortality. While the association between neighborhood socioeconomic status across the life course and premature mortality was largely similar between racial groups, the association between low childhood neighborhood socioeconomic status and risk of premature mortality was only observed among White participants. In this study, premature death was defined as death before age 75, which was the approximate average age of death among U.S. adults throughout the study period.
Participants were enrolled in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study’s Life Course Socioeconomic, Social Context and Cardiovascular Disease ancillary study. They reported their residential addresses at ages 10 (childhood), 30 (young adulthood), and 40-50 (middle adulthood). Addresses were geocoded and linked to U.S. Census data. The investigators, led by Wayne Lawrence, Dr.P.H., M.P.H., research fellow in the Metabolic Epidemiology Branch, and colleagues, created composite neighborhood scores for each life epoch (childhood, young adulthood, and middle adulthood) based on Census variables representing neighborhood-level educational attainment, home ownership, income, occupation, and property value. Individual socioeconomic status in childhood, young adulthood, and middle adulthood were obtained via telephone questionnaires. The study team evaluated individual educational attainment, occupation, occupational role, home ownership, and family income.
Future studies aimed at identifying place-based interventions that target neighborhood social determinants of health should be designed with a life course perspective that accounts for early-life socioeconomic inequality, as this is a critical route to reducing risk for premature death.
Reference
Lawrence WR et al. Neighborhood Socioeconomic Disadvantage Across Life Course and Premature Mortality. JAMA NO. 2024.