A pilot study for neighborhoods and health research in urban and rural Chile

Background: There is a great need for effective interventions to curb the increasing prevalence of cardiovascular disease in many Latin-American countries, and investigating the health effects of neighborhood characteristics is a promising avenue.

Methods: We conducted a pilot study of urban and rural low-income neighborhood perceptions in Santiago, Chile by recruiting participants from two public health centers. Between neighborhood differences in indicators of cardiovascular health were also explored.

Results: Of the 52 participants, 69% were female, the mean age was 38 years, the mean monthly income was $350, most had less than a high school education, and 52% lived in an urban neighborhood. Seventy-four percent reported crowding in their neighborhood, 56% had inadequate access to public transportation and approximately the same reported the presence of trash/litter. Eighty-two percent of the participants had stray animals in their neighborhood, a little over half reported violence, and almost one-third reported crime. Although there were no differences in body mass index, blood pressure, and waist-hip circumference between urban and rural neighborhoods, there were significant differences in neighborhood characteristics shown to impact cardiovascular health. Furthermore, 71% of the participants had fair/poor self-reported health, and both neighborhoods had good social capital.

Conclusion: These data demonstrate that neighborhood characteristics shown to impact cardiovascular health differ between urban and rural environments. To implement neighborhood-level interventions that improve the cardiovascular health profile of individuals, more rigorous research is needed.