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. 2020 Dec 3;15(12):e0243028.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0243028. eCollection 2020.

The effect of area deprivation on COVID-19 risk in Louisiana

Madhav K C  1 , Evrim Oral  2 , Susanne Straif-Bourgeois  1 , Ariane L Rung  1 , Edward S Peters  1
Affiliations

The effect of area deprivation on COVID-19 risk in Louisiana

Madhav K C et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Louisiana in the summer of 2020 had the highest per capita case count for COVID-19 in the United States and COVID-19 deaths disproportionately affects the African American population. Neighborhood deprivation has been observed to be associated with poorer health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between neighborhood deprivation and COVID-19 in Louisiana.

Methods: The Area Deprivation Index (ADI) was calculated and used to classify neighborhood deprivation at the census tract level. A total of 17 US census variables were used to calculate the ADI for each of the 1148 census tracts in Louisiana. The data were extracted from the American Community Survey (ACS) 2018. The neighborhoods were categorized into quintiles as well as low and high deprivation. The publicly available COVID-19 cumulative case counts by census tract were obtained from the Louisiana Department of Health website on July 31, 2020. Descriptive and Poisson regression analyses were performed.

Results: Neighborhoods in Louisiana were substantially different with respect to deprivation. The ADI ranged from 136.00 for the most deprived neighborhood and -33.87 in the least deprived neighborhood. We observed that individuals residing in the most deprived neighborhoods had almost a 40% higher risk of COVID-19 compared to those residing in the least deprived neighborhoods.

Conclusion: While the majority of previous studies were focused on very limited socio-environmental factors such as crowding and income, this study used a composite area-based deprivation index to examine the role of neighborhood environment on COVID-19. We observed a positive relationship between neighborhood deprivation and COVID-19 risk in Louisiana. The study findings can be utilized to promote public health preventions measures besides social distancing, wearing a mask while in public and frequent handwashing in vulnerable neighborhoods with greater deprivation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. ADI in Louisiana census tracts, 2019 US census TIGER/Line shapefiles.
Fig 2
Fig 2. COVID-19 cases per 1,000 persons in Louisiana by census tract, 2019 US Census TIGER/Line shapefiles.
Fig 3
Fig 3. ADI and COVID-19 cases per 1,000 persons in Louisiana by census tracts, 2019 US census TIGER/Line shapefiles.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Louisiana Department of Health. Gov. Edwards Confirms Louisiana's First Presumptive Positive Case of COVID-19. 2020 07/06/2020.
    1. Louisiana Department of Health. Louisiana Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information In: Louisiana Department of Health, editor. COVID-19: LDH; 2020.
    1. The Wall Street Journal. The Next Coronavirus Hot Spot: Louisiana Races to Prepare for the Worst: As number of cases jump, ‘It’s like preparing for an invisible hurricane. In: Calvert S, editor.: WSJ; 2020.
    1. Office of the Governor. COVID-19 Louisiana Response Louisiana Office of the Governor, Louisiana 2020 March 23.
    1. Chowkwanyun M, Reed AL Jr., Racial Health Disparities and Covid-19—Caution and Context. N Engl J Med. 2020;383(3):201–3. 10.1056/NEJMp2012910 - DOI - PubMed

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