A novel socioeconomic measure using individual housing data in cardiovascular outcome research.
BACKGROUND
To assess whether the individual housing-based socioeconomic status (SES) measure termed HOUSES was associated with post-myocardial infarction (MI) mortality.


METHODS
The study was designed as a population-based cohort study, which compared post-MI mortality among Olmsted County, Minnesota, USA, residents with different SES as measured by HOUSES using Cox proportional hazards models. Subjects' addresses at index date of MI were geocoded to real property data to formulate HOUSES (a z-score for housing value, square footage, and numbers of bedrooms and bathrooms). Educational levels were used as a comparison for the HOUSES index.


RESULTS
637 of the 696 eligible patients with MI (92%) were successfully geocoded to real property data. Post-MI survival rates were 60% (50-72), 78% (71-85), 72% (60-87), and 87% (81-93) at 2 years for patients in the first (the lowest SES), second, third, and fourth quartiles of HOUSES, respectively (p < 0.001). HOUSES was associated with post-MI all-cause mortality, controlling for all variables except age and comorbidity (p = 0.036) but was not significant after adjusting for age and comorbidity (p = 0.24).


CONCLUSIONS
Although HOUSES is associated with post-MI mortality, the differential mortality rates by HOUSES were primarily accounted for by age and comorbid conditions. HOUSES may be useful for health disparities research concerning cardiovascular outcomes, especially in overcoming the paucity of conventional SES measures in commonly used datasets.
Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. dukwon.bang@gmail.com.
Duk Won
DW
Bang
Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. manemann.sheila@mayo.edu.
Sheila M
SM
Manemann
Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. Gerber.Yariv@mayo.edu.
Yariv
Y
Gerber
Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. roger.veronique@mayo.edu.
Veronique L
VL
Roger
Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. lohse.christine@mayo.edu.
Christine M
CM
Lohse
Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.
Jennifer
J
Rand-Weaver
Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. krusemark.elizabeth@mayo.edu.
Elizabeth
E
Krusemark
Department of Research, Olmsted Medical Center, 210 Ninth Street SE, Rochester, MN 55904, USA. BYawn@olmmed.org.
Barbara P
BP
Yawn
Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. juhn.young@mayo.edu.
Young J
YJ
Juhn
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008910:Minnesota; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors