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. 2002 Nov;92(11):1768-72.
doi: 10.2105/ajph.92.11.1768.

Variability and vulnerability at the ecological level: implications for understanding the social determinants of health

Adam Karpati  1 , Sandro Galea, Tamara Awerbuch, Richard Levins
Affiliations

Variability and vulnerability at the ecological level: implications for understanding the social determinants of health

Adam Karpati et al. Am J Public Health. 2002 Nov.

Abstract

Objectives: We examined variability in disease rates to gain understanding of the complex interactions between contextual socioeconomic factors and health.

Methods: We compared mortality rates between New York and California counties in the lowest and highest quartiles of socioeconomic status (SES), assessed rate variability between counties for various outcomes, and examined correlations between outcomes' sensitivity to SES and their variability.

Results: Outcomes with mortality rates that differed most by county SES were among those whose variability across counties was high (e.g., AIDS, homicide, cirrhosis). Lower-SES counties manifested greater variability among outcome measures.

Conclusions: Differences in health outcome variability reflect differences in SES impact on health. Health variability at the ecological level might reflect the impact of stressors on vulnerable populations.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
—Intercounty variability in homicide rates stratified by tertiles of child (under 18 y) poverty, New York State, 1997.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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