The relationship between neighborhood characteristics and self-rated health for adults with chronic conditions.
OBJECTIVE
We sought to determine whether the association between neighborhood characteristics and health differs for people with and without a chronic condition.


METHODS
We analyzed data from 2536 adults from the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey and evaluated the relationship between the presence of a chronic condition at the individual level, neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES), and self-rated health. We constructed multilevel models to evaluate the relationship between the neighborhood SES index and self-rated health for people with and without chronic conditions, after adjustment for other individual characteristics.


RESULTS
Having a chronic condition was associated with substantially poorer self-rated health among participants in a deprived area than among those in a more advantaged area.


CONCLUSIONS
Residence in a disadvantaged neighborhood may be associated with barriers to the management of a chronic condition. Further work is needed to identify the specific characteristics of disadvantaged areas associated with poorer self-rated health for adults with chronic conditions.
Brown
Arleen F
AF
Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research, University of California, Los Angeles 90024, USA. abrown@mednet.ucla.edu
Ang
Alfonso
A
Pebley
Anne R
AR
D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015141:Los Angeles; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011203:Poverty; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012649:Self Concept; D014505:Urban Population