Abstract 043: Community-level Social Determinants Of Covid19 Mortality In The Chicago Area

Abstract

Introduction: Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, large geographic differences in mortality rates have emerged, with higher rates in predominantly Black and Latinx neighborhoods. In this analysis we examined community-level differences across the city of Chicago to better understand how geographic differences are associated with COVID19 mortality. Hypothesis: We hypothesized there would be an association between higher community-level social vulnerability and COVID19 mortality rates. Methods: We examined publicly available data from the Cook County Medical Examiner data (Illinois) of all known COVID-19 deaths as of August 21, 2020. Decedent addresses (N = 2397) were restricted to the city of Chicago, geocoded, and classified according to the 77 recognized community areas in the city. Poisson regression models were used to determine significant community-level predictors of COVID19 mortality based on community-level demographic, social, health, and healthcare characteristics collected from the Chicago Health Atlas. Results: There was at least one COVID19-related death in each Chicago community area, with a crude mortality rate ranging from 0.571 - 24.5 deaths per 10,000 persons. In the fully adjusted model with 14 community-level predictors, higher community-level population density, percentage of males, living in crowded housing, and limited food access were associated with higher rates of COVID19 mortality. Higher community-level proportion of the population aged 65+ years and having a primary care provider were associated with lower COVID19 mortality. Differences by Black and Latinx race/ethnicity community-level demographics were not significant in the final model. Conclusions: Community-level factors of greater social vulnerability (crowded living conditions, limited food access) are strong predictors of community-level COVID19 mortality. These factors may limit effective social distancing and increase the necessity to enter public areas, raising community-level COVID19 mortality.

American Heart Association EPI|Lifestyle Scientific Sessions: 2021 Meeting Highlights

“…Ashwin Sunderaj from Northwestern University examined the associations of community‐level factors, including social vulnerability (eg, crowded living conditions and limited food access) and socially protective factors (eg, having a primary care provider) with COVID‐19 mortality across 77 community areas in Chicago. 46 Dr Alexander Ivanov from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center presented findings from a serological substudy of 5000 randomly selected participants included in the COVID‐19 Community Research Partnership cohort and highlighted the independent association of heart failure with SARS‐CoV‐2 seroconversion. 47 Eugenia Wong from the University of North Carolina used data from North Carolina disease event tracking and epidemiologic collection tool (NC DETECT), the state’s syndromic surveillance system, to document an abrupt decrease in overall emergency department volume and acute myocardial infarction and stroke/transient ischemic attack emergency department visits following announcements of the state‐wide stay‐at‐home order.…”