Neighborhood factors behind high blood pressure in African American adults
Leveraging Spatial Epidemiology to Reduce Hypertension Disparities
This project uses neighborhood maps and local data to link things like food access, parks, housing, and healthcare to high blood pressure in African American adults.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Southern California NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Los Angeles, UNITED STATES) |
| Project ID | NIH-11145086 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
From a patient's perspective, researchers will map where adults with high blood pressure live and combine census, health records, and local resource data to measure how communities are split between privilege and deprivation. The team will build eight spatial social polarization (SSP) indexes covering race/ethnicity, income, education, residential segregation, and structural resources like food, recreation, healthcare, and housing. They will then compare these neighborhood patterns with who gets diagnosed, treated, and controlled for high blood pressure, focusing on African American adults. The approach aims to reveal specific neighborhood drivers that could be changed to reduce blood pressure disparities.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are African American adults age 21 or older who live in the neighborhoods included in the project or whose health records are part of the analyzed datasets.
Not a fit: People who live outside the studied areas or who do not have high blood pressure may not see direct benefit from this project right away.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could point to specific neighborhood changes and targeted programs that lower blood pressure and narrow disparities for African American communities.
How similar studies have performed: Previous neighborhood-level research links area deprivation and resource access to blood pressure, but applying expanded spatial social polarization indexes across socioeconomic and structural domains is a newer, largely untested approach.
Where this research is happening
Los Angeles, UNITED STATES
- University of Southern California — Los Angeles, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Abdel Magid, Hoda — University of Southern California
- Study coordinator: Abdel Magid, Hoda
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.