Impact of Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status on Cardiovascular Risk Factors in a French Urban Population

Background Over the past decade, neighborhood deprivation suggested to play a significant role in the repartition of cardiovascular risk factors. Purpose We assessed the effect of neighborhood socioeconomic position on the main cardiovascular risk factors in a French urban population with a comprehensive and multidimensional indicator. Methods Between 2010 and 2018, we studied cardiovascular risk factors in 7821 participants residing in Paris west suburb (CARVAR 92 cohort). Three neighborhood clusters of decreasing socioeconomic status were obtained after a hierarchical clustering analysis applied to eighteen measures of socioeconomic status. We used multivariate logistic models to estimate the association between neighborhood clusters and risk factors. Results Medium and low socioeconomic status were associated with higher risk of diabetes (OR = 1.63; 95%CI 1.23-2.15, OR = 3.28 95%CI 2.49-4.31, respectively) and obesity (OR = 1.42; 95%CI 1.23-1.64, OR = 2.23; 95%CI 1.92-2.58, respectively). High blood pressure and smoking intensity were also significantly associated with the most deprived neighborhoods (OR = 1.42; 95%CI 1.20-1.68, OR = 1.66; 95%CI 1.24-2.22, respectively) ( Fig. 1 ). Higher odds of diabetes and obesity were observed among the subgroup of females, especially in the lowest socioeconomic status neighborhoods (OR 3.85 95%CI 2.47-5.98, OR 2.55 95%CI 2.10-3.09, respectively), compared to those of males (OR = 2.81 95%CI 2.07-3.80, OR = 1.81 95%CI 1.43-2.30) ( Table 1 ). Conclusion Even in a country owning universal welfare coverage such as France, neighborhoods socioeconomic status is still nowadays strongly associated with an uneven distribution of cardiovascular risk factors. Most affected risks factors are diabetes and obesity. Furthermore, deprivation seems to have a stronger negative effect on women.