Story at a glance
- Higher crime rates can lead to a host of physical and mental health problems.
- Violent crime also tends to be concentrated in neighborhoods with higher proportions of people of color.
- New research shows that when violent crime decreases, so do rates of cardiovascular-related mortality.
Residents in neighborhoods with high rates of violent crime suffer a variety of mental and physical health challenges, while many major metropolitan cities have seen an uptick in rates in recent years. Violent crime also tends to be concentrated in areas with higher populations of people of color.
To better understand the longitudinal health effects of violent crime reduction strategies, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine conducted a study focused on Chicago.
They found that between 2000 and 2014, lower rates of violent crime at the community level were associated with greater decreases in cardiovascular and coronary artery disease mortality rates. Findings were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
“Exposure to violent crime appears to be an important social determinant of cardiovascular health within the broader context of the ways in which structural racism harms health,” said lead author Lauren Eberly of the University of Pennsylvania in a statement.
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Within the study window, researchers observed an overall 16 percent decrease in violent crime, along with a 13 percent decline in cardiovascular mortality rates. No differences were seen with regard to stroke mortality rates.
On a more granular level, higher declines in specific neighborhoods within Chicago also correlated with greater declines in heart disease mortality. Of the 77 community areas assessed, the greatest decline in violent crime was measured at 59 percent, correlating with a 14.8 percent decrease in cardiovascular mortality rates.
In areas with the lowest decrease in violent crime, there was still a nearly 12 percent decrease in these deaths.
“Because community areas that experienced the smallest decline in crime also experienced the smallest improvements in cardiovascular mortality, pre-existing disparities in mortality between neighborhoods in the city are likely to worsen over time, especially with the recent rise in crime rates in the United States,” noted Eberly.
Although the results may not be generalizable to other cities, researchers suspect similar findings would be seen in other large metropolises and hope the study will spur policies aimed at addressing the health consequences of structural racism.
Several interventions can help reduce neighborhood violence, including creating well-maintained green spaces and fixing structural problems in low-income residents’ homes.
Data from 2000 to 2014 were the most recent available for the study, and authors caution violent crime in Chicago has increased since then. In addition, specific types of violent crime were not assessed.
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