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Neighborhood environments and coronary heart disease: a multilevel analysis.

The authors investigated whether neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics are associated with coronary heart disease prevalence and risk factors, whether these associations persist after adjustment for individual-level social class indicators, and whether the effects of individual-level indicators vary across neighborhoods. The study sample consisted of 12,601 persons in four US communities (Washington County, Maryland; Forsyth County, North Carolina; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Jackson, Mississippi) participating in the baseline examination of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study (1987-1989). Neighborhood characteristics were obtained from 1990 US Census block-group measures. Multilevel models were used to estimate associations with neighborhood variables after adjustment for individual-level indicators of social class. Living in deprived neighborhoods was associated with increased prevalence of coronary heart disease and increased levels of risk factors, with associations generally persisting after adjustment for individual-level variables. Inconsistent associations were documented for serum cholesterol and disease prevalence in African-American men. For Jackson African-American men living in poor neighborhoods, coronary heart disease prevalence decreased as neighborhood characteristics worsened. Additionally, in African-American men from Jackson, low social class was associated with increased serum cholesterol in "richer" neighborhoods but decreased serum cholesterol in "poorer" neighborhoods. Neighborhood environments may be one of the pathways through which social structure shapes coronary heart disease risk.

Black or African American↗

The association between multiple domains of discrimination and self-assessed health: a multilevel analysis of Latinos and blacks in four low-income New York City neighborhoods.

OBJECTIVE: This study examines the association between discrimination due to race and other attributes (e.g., sex, age) and self-assessed mental and physical health among Latinos and blacks. DATA SOURCE: Latino and black adult participants (n = 873) identified by random digit dialing were interviewed by telephone in four low-income neighborhoods in New York City: the South Bronx, East Harlem, Central Harlem, and Bedford-Stuyvesant. STUDY DESIGN: In this cross-sectional study, generalized estimating equations were used to fit multilevel multivariable models to test the association between discrimination and poor mental and physical health while controlling for socioeconomic status, access to health care, social support, smoking, and the racial and ethnic composition of each neighborhood. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Discrimination due to race and discrimination due to other attributes were associated with poor self-assessed mental but not physical health in separate multivariable models. Persons who experienced multiple domains of discrimination had a greater probability of reporting poor mental health than persons who experienced no discrimination. CONCLUSIONS: Discrimination due to race and other attributes was a significant correlate of mental health among Latinos and blacks independent of other accepted determinants of health.

Adolescent↗

Health policy perception and health behaviours: a multilevel analysis and implications for public health psychology.

Associations of health policy perception with health behaviours are analysed. Policy perception is differentiated in information about programmes and appraisal of health policy's contribution to policy goals, and conceptualized on the level of: (1) individuals; and (2) populations (as a social climate indicator). Survey data from the Biomed2-Project MAREPS gathered in Belgium, Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland (N= 3343) show that at the individual level, only policy information is associated with utilizing mammography, quitting smoking, physical activity and political participation in creating healthy environments. In contrast, multilevel regression analyses show that policy appraisal is related to physical activity and political participation as a social climate factor. Implications for integrating health psychology and public health within public health psychology are discussed.

Behavioral Medicine↗

Emergency room injury presentations as an indicator of alcohol-related problems in the community: a multilevel analysis of an international study.

OBJECTIVE: This study describes and examines the development of surrogate measures of acute alcohol-related injury for use in the evaluation of community-based prevention initiatives. METHOD: An international collaborative study of alcohol and injury, the Emergency Room Collaborative Alcohol Analysis Project (ERCAAP), provided a subset of data on 8580 emergency room (ER) presentations from five countries and 28 ER facilities. RESULTS: Presentations most likely to be alcohol related were those made between 12:00 AM and 4:59 AM (56%), on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays (26%); and those among injured persons who were male (28%), who were aged between 18 and 45 years (24%) or who were unmarried (24%). Multilevel logistic regression models confirmed the significance of the above variables as predictors of alcohol involvement prior to the injury event. The strongest predictor variable was presentation between 12 midnight and 4:59 AM with an odds ratio of 4.92 (Wald Test chi2 = 397.6, p < .001). Being male had an odds ratio of 3.01 (Wald Test chi2 = 247.25, p < .001), and presenting on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday night had an odds ratio of 1.50 (Wald Test chi2 = 49.6, p < .001), whereas being under 45 (odds ratio [OR] = 1.20, p < .05) and being unmarried (OR = 1.2, p < .01) were less strong predictors. Combining all these values for variables raised the probability of prior alcohol involvement in such injury presentations to 0.65, although only 3.37% of all cases met these criteria, limiting applicability of this combined variable as a surrogate measure for intervention studies. Probabilities of prior alcohol involvement are presented with other combinations of values for the predictor variables. CONCLUSIONS: Frequency of nighttime injury presentations to ER facilities, particularly by men, can be used as a reliable surrogate measure of alcohol-related injuries for various epidemiological and evaluation purposes.

Accidents↗

Utilitarian bicycling: a multilevel analysis of climate and personal influences.

BACKGROUND: Increasing utilitarian bicycling in urban areas is a means to reduce air and noise pollution, increase physical activity, and reduce the risk of chronic diseases. We investigated the impact of individual- and city-level characteristics on bicycling in Canadian cities to inform transportation and public health policies. METHODS: The study population included 59,899 respondents to the 2003 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) living in cities with populations greater than 50,000. In 2005, data on individual characteristics were drawn from the CCHS, and city-level climate data from Environment Canada records. Separate multilevel logistic regression models were developed for the general (nonstudent) and student populations. RESULTS: The proportion of the urban population reporting bicycling in a typical week was 7.9%, with students cycling more than nonstudents (17.2% vs 6.0%). In the general population, older age, female gender, lower education, and higher income were associated with lower likelihood of cycling. More days of precipitation per year and more days of freezing temperatures per year were both associated with lower levels of utilitarian cycling (odds ratios [ORs] for every 30-day increase in precipitation=0.84, 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.74-0.94, and for every 30-day increase in freezing temperatures OR=0.91, 95% CI=0.86-0.97). There was less variation in the proportion of students who cycled by age and income, and only the number of days with freezing temperatures influenced bicycling. CONCLUSIONS: Bicycling patterns are associated with individual demographic characteristics and the climate where one lives. This evidence might be useful to guide policy initiatives for targeted health promotion and transportation infrastructure.

Adolescent↗

Individual and contextual determinants of exclusive breast-feeding in São Paulo, Brazil: a multilevel analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To identify individual and contextual factors associated with the practice of exclusive breast-feeding (EBF). METHODOLOGY: We analysed 34 435 children under 6 months of age living in 111 municipalities in the state of São Paulo, south-eastern Brazil, who participated in a survey investigating feeding practices during the first year of life, carried out during the 1999 national vaccination campaign. The questionnaire employed included questions on the consumption, in the last 24 h, of breast milk, water, tea, other types of milk and other foods, in addition to mother and child characteristics. Information on the pro-breast-feeding measures implemented in the municipalities was also collected. The effects of individual and contextual characteristics on EBF were analysed using multilevel models. RESULTS: The final model showed a greater chance of EBF in women with tertiary education (odds ratio (OR) = 1.91; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.75-2.06); women aged between 25 and 29 years (OR = 1.52; 95% CI 1.41-1.63); multiparae (OR = 1.42; 95% CI 1.33-1.49); female babies (OR = 1.12; 95% CI 1.05-1.18); birth weight > or = 3000 g (OR = 1.73; 95% CI 1.49-1.97); child follow-up in the private health-care network (OR = 1.10; 95% CI 1.02-1.18); and municipalities with four or five pro-breast-feeding measures (OR = 2.4; 95% CI 2.19-2.88). An analysis of the interactions between individual and contextual variables showed that the presence of at least four pro-breast-feeding measures in the municipality attenuated the risk of early termination of EBF associated with low maternal schooling and low birth weight, and transformed child follow-up in the public network into a protective factor against the early termination of breast-feeding. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of measures aimed at protecting, promoting and supporting breast-feeding in the municipality had a positive influence on EBF and attenuated the impact of risk factors for the termination of breast-feeding.

Adolescent↗

Income inequality and alcohol use: a multilevel analysis of drinking and drunkenness in adolescents in 34 countries.

BACKGROUND: Economic inequality has been hypothesized to be a health determinant, independent of poverty and household income. The goal of this study was to explore the contextual influences of income inequality on alcohol use and frequency of drunkenness in adolescents. METHODS: The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study surveyed 162 305 adolescents (ages 11, 13 and 15 years) in 34 countries, providing self-report data on family affluence, alcohol consumption and episodes of drunkenness. Country-level data on income inequality and overall wealth were retrieved from the United Nations Development Program. RESULTS: Multilevel logistic regression revealed that 11- and 13-year-olds in countries of high income inequality consumed more alcohol than their counterparts in countries of low income inequality (after adjustment for sex, family affluence and country wealth). No such effect on alcohol consumption was found in 15-year-olds. Eleven-year-olds in countries of high income inequality reported more episodes of drunkenness than their counterparts in countries of low income inequality. No such effect of income inequality on drunkenness was found in 13- or 15-year-olds. CONCLUSIONS: Income inequality may have a contextual influence on the use of alcohol among younger adolescents. Findings suggest that economic policies that affect the distribution of wealth within societies may indirectly influence the use of alcohol during early and mid-adolescence.

Adolescent↗

Welfare state matters: a typological multilevel analysis of wealthy countries.

Building on the social science literature, we hypothesized that population health indicators in wealthy industrialized countries are 'clustered' around welfare state regime types. We tested this hypothesis during a period of welfare state expansion from 1960 to 1994. We categorized data from 19 wealthy countries into 4 different types of welfare state regimes (Social Democratic, Christian Democratic, Liberal and Wage Earner Welfare States). Outcome variables were the infant mortality rate (IMR) and the low birth weight rate (LBW), obtained from the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Health Data 2000 and from the United Nations Common Statistical Database (UNCSD). A two-level multilevel model was constructed, and fixed effects of welfare state were tested. Through the 39 years analyzed, Social Democratic countries exhibited a significantly better population health status, i.e., lower infant mortality rate and low birth weight rate, compared to other countries. Twenty percent of the difference in infant mortality rate among countries could be explained by the type of welfare state, and about 10% for low birth weight rate. The gap between Social Democracies and other countries widened over the 1990s. Our results confirm that countries exhibit distinctive levels of population health by welfare regime types even when adjusted by the level of economic development (GDP per capita) and intra-country correlations. It implies that countries, as groups, adopt similar policies or through any other ways, achieve similar level of health status. Proposed mechanisms of such process and suggestions for future research directions are presented in the discussion.

Asia↗

Area variations in the prevalence of substance use and gambling behaviours and problems in Quebec: a multilevel analysis.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to examine whether variations among regions in Quebec existed after we controlled for individual characteristics in the prevalence of 1) alcohol, cannabis, and gambling behaviours and 2) substance-related disorders and pathological gambling. METHODS: Using data derived from the Canadian Community Health Survey: Mental Health and Well-Being (CCHS 1.2), we nested 5332 respondents from the province of Quebec within 374 regions equivalent to census subdivisions (CSDs). Outcome variables included 1) drinking status (past 12 months), alcohol consumption (last week), and 12-month diagnosis of alcohol dependence; 2) cannabis use (past 12 months and lifetime) and diagnosis of illicit drug dependence; and 3) gambling status, severity of gambling problems, and number of reported gambling activities (past 12 months). Multilevel regression models with individuals (Level 1) nested in regions (CSDs, Level 2) assessed the variations among regions in the prevalence of various outcomes and disorders when individual characteristics were controlled for. RESULTS: Variance component models revealed that all alcohol-related variables, the prevalence of cannabis use (12 months), and problem gambling did not vary among areas. Gambling rates and the average number of reported gambling activities varied among areas, even when individual-level variables were accounted for in the models, whereas for lifetime cannabis use, variations among areas became nonsignificant. CONCLUSION: Intervention programs may need to address the environment as a relevant determinant of health-related behaviours and lifestyles.

Adolescent↗

What factors explain the number of physical therapy treatment sessions in patients referred with low back pain; a multilevel analysis.

BACKGROUND: It is well-known that the number of physical therapy treatment sessions varies over treatment episodes. Information is lacking, however, on the source and explanation of the variation. The purposes of the current study are: 1) to determine how the variance in the number of physical therapy treatment sessions in patients with non-specific low back pain (LBP) in the Netherlands is distributed over patient level, therapist level and practice level; and 2) to determine the factors that explain the variance. METHODS: Data were used from a national registration network on physical therapy. Our database contained information on 1,733 patients referred with LBP, treated by 97 therapists working in 41 practices. The variation in the number of treatment sessions was investigated by means of multilevel regression analyses. RESULTS: Eighty-eight per cent of the variation in the number of treatment sessions for patients with LBP is located at patient level and seven per cent is located at practice level. It was possible to explain thirteen per cent of all variance. The duration of the complaint, prior therapy, and the patients' age and gender in particular are related to the number of physical therapy treatment sessions. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the number of physical therapy treatment sessions in patients with LBP mainly depends on patient characteristics. More variation needs to be explained, however, to improve the transparency of care. Future research should examine the contribution of psychosocial factors, baseline disability, and the ability to learn motor behavior as possible factors in the variation in treatment sessions.

Adult↗

Urban built environment and depression: a multilevel analysis.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To assess the relations between characteristics of the neighbourhood internal and external built environment and past six month and lifetime depression. DESIGN AND SETTING: Depression and sociodemographic information were assessed in a cross sectional survey of residents of New York City (NYC). All respondents were geocoded to neighbourhood of residence. Data on the quality of the built environment in 59 NYC neighbourhoods were collected from the United Status census, the New York City housing and vacancy survey, and the fiscal 2002 New York City mayor's management report. MAIN RESULTS: Among 1355 respondents, residence in neighbourhoods characterised by a poor quality built environment was associated with greater individual likelihood of past six month and lifetime depression in multilevel models adjusting for individual age, race/ethnicity, sex, and income and for neighbourhood level income. In adjusted models, persons living in neighbourhoods characterised by poorer features of the built environment were 29%-58% more likely to report past six month depression and 36%-64% more likely to report lifetime depression than respondents living in neighbourhoods characterised by better features of the built environment. CONCLUSIONS: Living in neighbourhoods characterised by a poor quality built environment is associated with a greater likelihood of depression. Future prospective work designed to assess potential mechanisms underlying these associations may guide public health and urban planning efforts aimed at improving population mental health.

Adolescent↗

Determinants of early identification of suicidal ideation in patients treated with antidepressants or anxiolytics in general practice: a multilevel analysis.

BACKGROUND: General practitioners (GPs) play a key role in identifying and managing patients with suicidal tendencies. Few studies, however, examine both GP and patient characteristics and GP practices associated with suicide assessment. This article aims to evaluate 1) GPs' success in early identification of suicidal ideation (SI) in patients starting antidepressant or anxiolytic treatment, and 2) patient- and GP-related factors associated with this success. METHODS: Survey of 144 GPs practising in southeastern France and of consecutive adults consulting them during June-October 2004 and prescribed antidepressant or anxiolytic treatment. Data were collected from GPs (consultation-questionnaires focusing on their prescription, diagnosis and detection of SI) and patients (self-administered questionnaires including the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale and social and demographic characteristics). We used multilevel logistic regression to analyse factors associated with SI detection. RESULTS: GPs completed consultation-questionnaires for 713 patients, 405 of whom completed self-administered questionnaires. Eighty-nine patients (22%) reported SI; in 43 cases (48%) SI had not been detected by the GP. GPs detected SI more frequently when they had completed continuing medical education about depression, when patients had higher depressive symptom scores, and when consultations were relatively long. LIMITATIONS: Study limited to patients receiving initial prescriptions for antidepressants or anxiolytics. CONCLUSIONS: The percentage of undetected SI in this study population was high. Additional training of GPs increases the chances of detecting SI. Medical training and continuing medical education should include better instruction about SI risk factors and diagnosis, including non-major depressions, and stress that screening requires sufficient consultation time.

Adolescent↗

Nutritional support in HIV infection: a multilevel analysis.

Infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the development of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a long-term process in many individuals. The progression of HIV disease is beginning to demonstrate many commonalities with other chronic diseases. Although research has not yet shown clear-out evidence that diet can make a difference in the course of disease in HIV-infected clients, nutrition should be viewed as an important component of holistic care for HIV-infected clients because: 1) wasting and symptoms of malnutrition are common problems associated with these clients; and 2) nutrition has proven to be a beneficial component of care in other chronic conditions. This paper uses the model developed by Winett, King and Altman (1989) to review nutritional support in HIV infection from a multilevel perspective ranging from personal psychology to institutional/societal controls. The author concludes that there is a potential benefit from integrating nutritional assessment, diagnosis and education into the holistic care of HIV-infected clients at the personal, interpersonal, organizational and societal levels.

Comprehensive Health Care↗

A multilevel analysis of women's status and self-rated health in the United States.

OBJECTIVES: We investigated associations between various dimensions of women's status and self-rated health. We hypothesized that women living in states with lower levels of women's status would be at greater risk of reporting poor health than women living in states with higher levels of women's status, even when controlling for individual and state characteristics. METHODS: We used individual self-rated health and sociodemographic characteristics for 87 848 female respondents to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) 2000. Women's status indices and indicators were obtained from the Status of Women in the States 2000. State median income and income inequality were included as state-level contextual variables. We examined data using a multilevel logistic regression method. RESULTS: Women living in states scoring in the lowest quintile on women's political and economic indices (political participation, employment and earnings, and economic autonomy) were more likely to report poor health, odds ratio (OR) 1.14 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01, 1.28), OR 1.29 (CI 1.08,1.55); OR 1.30 (CI 1.09, 1.56), respectively, after controlling for individual characteristics and other state-level variables than were women living in the highest-performing 20% of states. CONCLUSIONS: The status of women at the state level has an independent association with the risk of reporting poor health over and above women's individual characteristics. This finding suggests a contextual effect of women's societal status on health status.

Adult↗

A multilevel analysis of key forms of community- and individual-level social capital as predictors of self-rated health in the United States.

Communities may be rich or poor in a variety of stocks of social capital. Studies that have investigated relations among these forms and their simultaneous and combined health effects are sparse. Using data on a sample of 24,835 adults (more than half of whom resided in core urban areas) nested within 40 U.S. communities from the Social Capital Benchmark Survey, correlational and factor analyses were applied to determine appropriate groupings among eight key social capital indicators (social trust, informal social interactions, formal group involvement, religious group involvement, giving and volunteering, diversity of friendship networks, electoral political participation, and non-electoral political participation) at each of the community and individual levels. Multilevel logistic regression models were estimated to analyze the associations between the grouped social capital forms and individual self-rated health. Adjusting the three identified community-level social capital groupings/scales for one another and community- and individual-level sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics, each of the odds ratios of fair/poor health associated with living in a community one standard deviation higher in the respective social capital form was modestly below one. Being high on all three (vs. none of the) scales was significantly associated with 18% lower odds of fair/poor health (odds ratio = 0.82, 95% confidence interval = 0.69-0.98). Adding individual-level social capital variables to the model attenuated two of the three community-level social capital associations, with a few of the former characteristics appearing to be moderately significantly protective of health. We further observed several significant interactions between community-level social capital and one's proximity to core urban areas, individual-level race/ethnicity, gender, and social capital. Overall, our results suggest primarily beneficial yet modest health effects of key summary forms of community social capital, and heterogeneity in some of these effects by urban context and population subgroup.

Adolescent↗

Individual characteristics, area social participation, and primary non-concordance with medication: a multilevel analysis.

BACKGROUND: Non-concordance with medication remains a major public health problem that imposes a considerable financial burden on the health care system, and there is still a need for studies on correlates of non-concordance. Our first aim is to analyse whether any of the individual characteristics age, educational level, financial strain, self-rated health, social participation, and trust in the health care system are associated with primary non-concordance with medication. Our second aim is to investigate whether people living in the same area have similar probability of primary non-concordance with medication, that relates to area social participation. METHODS: We analysed cross sectional data from 9,070 women and 6,795 men aged 18 to 79 years, living in 78 areas in central Sweden, who participated in the Life & Health year 2000 survey, with multilevel logistic regression (individuals at the first level and areas at the second level). RESULTS: Younger age, financial strain, low self-rated health, and low trust in the health care system were associated with primary non-concordance with medication. However, area social participation was not related to primary non-concordance, and the variation in primary non-concordance between the areas was small. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that people in central Sweden with younger age, financial difficulties, low self-rated health, and low trust in the health care system may have a higher probability of primary non-concordance with medication. However, the area of residence--as defined by administrative boundaries--seems to play a minor role for primary non-concordance.

Adolescent↗

Cardiovascular risk factors and the neighbourhood environment: a multilevel analysis.

BACKGROUND: This article examines whether the neighbourhood environment influences intermediate cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, such as obesity (body mass index [BMI]), and lifestyle factors, such as no physical activity and smoking, when adjusted for the individual socioeconomic status (SES). METHODS: The study consists of face-to-face interviews from the Swedish Annual Level of Living Survey (SALLS) matched with the social status of the respondents' residential areas measured by two composite indices, the Care Need Index (CNI) and the Townsend score. The response rate was about 80%. This study was limited to the residents aged 25-74 years and consists of 9240 interviews from the years 1988-1989, when there were extended items in the SALLS about health and lifestyle. The data were analysed using a hierarchical logistic regression model. RESULTS: There was a gradient within every SES group so that respondents with a low (or intermediate or high) educational level exhibited an increasing proportion of daily smokers, physically inactive people and obese individuals with increasing neighbourhood deprivation. The multilevel model showed that respondents living in the most deprived neighbourhoods had an increased risk for being a daily smoker, engaging in no physical activity and being obese when adjusted for the individual SES. CONCLUSIONS: We showed that the area level has an important influence on risk factors for CVD which goes beyond the individual educational attainment. An increased level of living standard, more resources for primary health care and health promotion targeting the community level should be beneficial.

Adult↗

Birth outcomes among urban African-American women: a multilevel analysis of the role of racial residential segregation.

Residential segregation is a common aspect of the urban experiences of African-Americans in the United States (US), yet few studies have considered how segregation might influence perinatal health. Here, we develop a conceptual model of relationships between segregation and birth outcomes and test the implications of the model in a sample of 434,376 singleton births to African-American women living in 225 US Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). Data from the National Center for Health Statistics 2002 birth files were linked to data from the 2000 US Census and two distinct measures of segregation: an index of isolation (the probability that an African-American resident will encounter another African-American resident in any random neighborhood encounter) and an index of clustering (the extent to which African-Americans live in contiguous neighborhoods). Using multilevel regression models, controlling for individual- and MSA-level socioeconomic status and other covariates, we found higher isolation was associated with lower birthweight, higher rates of prematurity and higher rates of fetal growth restriction. In contrast, higher clustering was associated with more optimal outcomes. We propose that isolation reflects factors associated with segregation that are deleterious to health including poor neighborhood quality, persistent discrimination and the intra-group diffusion of harmful health behaviors. Associations with clustering may reflect factors associated with segregation that are health-promoting such as African-American political power empowerment, social support and cohesion. Declines in isolation could represent positive steps toward improving birth outcomes among African-American infants while aspects of racial contiguity appear to be mitigating or indeed beneficial. Segregation is a complex multidimensional construct with both deleterious and protective influences on birth outcomes, depending on the dimensions under consideration. Further research to understand racial/ethnic and economic health disparities could benefit from a focus on the contributory role of neighborhood attributes associated with the dimensions segregation and other social geographies.

Adolescent↗