title: A neighborhood wealth metric for use in health studies.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Measures of neighborhood deprivation used in health research are typically based on conventional area-based SES.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study is to examine new data and measures of SES for use in health research. Specifically, assessed property values are introduced as a new individual-level metric of wealth and tested for their ability to substitute for conventional area-based SES as measures of neighborhood deprivation.
  
  
  METHODS
  The analysis was conducted in 2010 using data from 1922 participants in the 2008-2009 survey of the Seattle Obesity Study (SOS). It compared the relative strength of the association between the individual-level neighborhood wealth metric (assessed property values) and area-level SES measures (including education, income, and percentage above poverty as single variables, and as the composite Singh index) on the binary outcome fair/poor general health status. Analyses were adjusted for gender, categoric age, race, employment status, home ownership, and household income.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The neighborhood wealth measure was more predictive of fair/poor health status than area-level SES measures, calculated either as single variables or as indices (lower DIC measures for all models). The odds of having a fair/poor health status decreased by 0.85 (95% CI=0.77, 0.93) per $50,000 increase in neighborhood property values after adjusting for individual-level SES measures.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The proposed individual-level metric of neighborhood wealth, if replicated in other areas, could replace area-based SES measures, thus simplifying analyses of contextual effects on health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urban Design and Planning, University of Washington, Seattle, 98195, USA. moudon@u.washington.edu
authors.forename: Anne Vernez
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Moudon
authors.forename: Andrea J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.forename: Jared
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ulmer
authors.forename: Philip M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Hurvitz
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Drewnowski
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D012107:Research Design; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014861:Washington; D055815:Young Adult