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. 2006 Aug;96(8):1485-91.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2004.052076. Epub 2006 Jun 29.

Variations in the health conditions of 6 Chicago community areas: a case for local-level data

Ami M Shah  1 , Steven Whitman, Abigail Silva
Affiliations

Variations in the health conditions of 6 Chicago community areas: a case for local-level data

Ami M Shah et al. Am J Public Health. 2006 Aug.

Abstract

Objectives: Although local-level chronic disease and risk factor data are not typically available, they are valuable for guiding public health interventions and policies. To present a case for disaggregated community-level health data, we conducted a study exploring the relevance of such data to research on health disparities.

Methods: We designed a population-based health survey to gather information on many health measures, 13 of which are presented here. Interviews were conducted with 1699 adults (18-75 years) in 6 Chicago community areas between September 2002 and April 2003.

Results: Statistically significant variations in health measures were found between the 6 communities themselves (108 of 195 pairwise comparisons were significant) and between the communities and Chicago as a whole (35 of 54 comparisons were significant).

Conclusions: The local-level variations in health revealed in this study emphasize that geographic and racial/ethnic health disparities are still prominent in Chicago and shed light on the limitations of existing city- and regional-level data.

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Figures

FIGURE 1—
FIGURE 1—
Six of Chicago’s 77 community areas.
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