|
America Counts: Stories Behind the Numbers
Where You Live Matters for Your Health and So Does How We Measure It
Where you live can shape how long you live and how healthy you are along the way — a connection that has been well-documented for years.
To understand and address this connection, policymakers and researchers need better ways to measure a community’s risks. They have increasingly relied on a variety of area-based measures.
But the question is: which one better captures a community’s social risk across both populations and geographies?
Our new study published in JAMA Health Forum linked U.S. Census Bureau socioeconomic data and electronic health records of more than 2.8 million primary care patients to compare widely used area-based measures of social risk
Our findings suggest that where you live is a powerful predictor of serious health conditions and, in many cases, more powerful than income or education level.
Continue reading to learn more about:
- Why area-based social risk measures matter
- Why not all measures are created equal
|
|
You May Be Interested In
Health Insurance Coverage Varied Significantly by Occupation
In 2024, farming, fishing and forestry occupations had among the highest uninsured rates among workers ages 19 to 64.
|
|
|
|
|
