Crime, neighborhood deprivation, and asthma: A GIS approach to define and assess neighborhoods

Exposure to neighborhood factors remains difficult to quantify when neighborhoods are often predefined and imprecisely measured. This study examines the association between neighborhood deprivation and participation in a community-based asthma case management (CM) program in Oakland, CA. We estimated neighborhoods by calculating walking distances of , and miles around each child’s (n = 2892) residence. The model assesses deprivation by the addition of weighted factors within a child’s neighborhood–crime rates, alcohol outlets, and eight 2000 US Census characteristics. The results illustrate that neighborhood deprivation is weakly associated with greater levels of program participation, but neighborhood education level, measured by percentage of residents with less than a high school education, is strongly associated with greater program participation (OR: 4.43, 95% CI: [1.23, 15.99]). Neighborhood deprivation factors were significantly different between neighborhoods defined by walking distances and census blockgroups (Wilcoxon-signed rank test: p < 0.05).

Research highlights
► We examined neighborhood factors’ influence on participation in an asthma program.
► Various geographical definitions of neighborhood were implemented in the analysis.
► Neighborhood deprivation was weakly associated with program participation.
► Neighborhood deprivation factors varied significantly by neighborhood definition.