Where you live may predict your long-term survival after experiencing a first heart attack. Socioeconomic factors—such as income, education, employment, community safety and more—have long been associated with cardiovascular health, but less is known about how neighborhood factors impact outcomes after myocardial infarction (MI), particularly among younger individuals. In an article published in JAMA Cardiology, researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and colleagues studied the health records of 2,002 patients who experienced an MI at or before age 50. They found that even after adjusting for other health risk factors, neighborhood-level socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with a 57 percent higher rate of cardiovascular mortality over an approximate 11-year follow-up period.
