Urbanization and socioeconomic profiles of neighborhoods related to blood pressure (Journal of Hypertension)

This work conducted in collaboration between the University of Montreal and Inserm provides new information on the relationships between residential neighborhoods and blood pressure.

A previous work based on the RECORD Study had shown that socioeconomic position of the residential neighborhood, especially neighborhood educational level, was associated with the systolic blood pressure of participants.

In this new analysis, Andrea van Hulst from University of Montreal considered a large number of characteristics related to the physical environment, to the service environment, and to the social environment to construct a typology of neighborhoods. Such a classification allowed us to divide the RECORD Study territory into 6 categories of neighborhoods with differing patterns of urbanization, socioeconomic level, and social interactions.

Analyses showed that systolic blood pressure was higher among participants living in socially disadvantaged urban neighborhoods. This relationship persisted after accounting for the socioeconomic characteristics of participants and of their residential neighborhood and for different risk factors of hypertension.

Moreover, a negative relationship was documented between the degree of urbanization of the residential neighborhood and diastolic blood pressure, with a higher blood pressure in the least urbanized neighborhoods.

These new findings provide additional insight on the socio-territorial profile of hypertension.