A new Epi Data Brief Neighborhood Poverty and Infectious Diseases: Health Disparities in New York City and accompanying tables highlights the study findings.
The brief describes the association between disease rates and area-based poverty for 38 infectious diseases reported to the New York City (NYC) Health Department between 2006 and 2013. The authors found that New Yorkers residing in very high poverty census tracts were more likely to be diagnosed with Hepatitis B and C, along with 21 of the 38 infectious diseases examined, compared with persons residing in low poverty census tracts.
The report concludes that the association between chronic Hepatitis C and poverty may be related to injection drug use. Injection drug use is a common risk factor for hepatitis C and is associated with living in poverty.
Chronic Hepatitis B primarily occurs among foreign-born populations in NYC, particularly immigrants from China. These populations also tend to reside in neighborhoods with high poverty levels.
To read the press release on this study, click here
Last Updated on January 25, 2020 by HepFree NYC
