Neighborhood Environment Characteristics and Control of Hypertension and Diabetes in a Primary Care Patient Sample

Hypertension control and diabetes control are important for reducing cardiovascular disease burden. A growing body of research suggests an association between neighborhood environment and hypertension or diabetes control among patients engaged in clinical care.

To investigate whether neighborhood conditions (i.e., healthy food availability, socioeconomic status (SES), and crime) were associated with hypertension and diabetes control.

Cross-sectional analyses using electronic medical record (EMR) data, U.S. Census data, and secondary data characterizing neighborhood food environments. Multivariate logistic regression analyses adjusted for potential confounders. Analyses were conducted in 2017.

Five thousand nine hundred seventy adults receiving primary care at three Baltimore City clinics in 2010-2011.

Census tract-level neighborhood healthy food availability, neighborhood SES, and neighborhood crime. Hypertension control defined as systolic blood pressure < 140 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure < 90 mmHg. Diabetes control defined as HgbA1c < 7.

Among patients with hypertension, neighborhood conditions were not associated with lower odds of blood pressure control after accounting for patient and physician characteristics. However, among patients with diabetes, in fully adjusted models accounting for patient and physician characteristics, we found that patients residing in neighborhoods with low and moderate SES had reduced odds of diabetes control (OR = 0.74 (95% CI = 0.57-0.97) and OR = 0.75 (95% CI = 0.57-0.98), respectively) compared to those living in high-SES neighborhoods.

Neighborhood disadvantage may contribute to poor diabetes control among patients in clinical care. Community-based chronic disease care management strategies to improve diabetes control may be optimally effective if they also address neighborhood SES among patients engaged in care.