Abstract
Worldwide, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases are increasing. Environmental noise and the socioeconomic and sociodemographic situation are important factors for the diseases. Using borough health claims data from 2011 in the city of Hamburg, ecological analyses with principal component analyses were conducted to describe the relationship of road traffic noise Lden (day, evening, and night) > 65 dB(A), physician density, and social deprivation with regional prevalence rates of heart failure and hypertension (n = 67 boroughs). Additionally, associations between the considered factors with borough prevalence rates of acute bronchitis and asthma in children up to 14 years old were analyzed. The multivariate regression analyses (ANCOVA) indicated that the socioeconomic and sociodemographic borough background might be associated with cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, showing the strongest association among hypertensive female patients with 9.90 percent (p < 0.0001) in the highest social deprivation category, when compared to the group of low social deprivation. However, associations between noise, physician density, and the respective health outcomes were negligible. Results will serve as a basis for further investigations. By using data from two surveys, future studies will focus on individual level data to assess the validity of our model, and to develop strategies to reduce the prevalence of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.
Highlights
Cardiovascular diseases are estimated to be the most common cause of death and of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) worldwide, where ischemic heart disease, stroke, and hypertension are the major diseases within this group [1,2]
The presented first results suggest that the socioeconomic and sociodemographic urban borough background might be associated with variations in cardiovascular and respiratory diseases
A significantly higher prevalence for heart failure and hypertension was detected for boroughs classified as having high social deprivation
Summary
Cardiovascular diseases are estimated to be the most common cause of death and of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) worldwide, where ischemic heart disease, stroke, and hypertension are the major diseases within this group [1,2]. In Germany, where this study was conducted, ischemic heart disease is the leading cause of death and loss of healthy years of life [3]. Urban Sci. 2017, 1, 27; doi:10.3390/urbansci1030027 www.mdpi.com/journal/urbansci. Lower respiratory diseases as a group show a retrogressive trend in DALYs but are still the second leading cause for disability worldwide [2]. In Germany, the burden of lower and chronic respiratory diseases is the seventh most important cause of DALYs [3]. Bronchitis is one of the most common acute diseases diagnosed, and asthma the most common chronic disease diagnosed [4,5,6]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
