Social determinants of health have long been known to impact healthcare access and outcomes for individuals, particularly those from historically marginalized and underrepresented populations. This research sought to evaluate whether the historical discriminatory housing policy referred to as redlining is concomitant with today’s incidence of stroke cases in New York City.
The research found in this cross-sectional study of 2,117 census New York City tracts that historical redlining was independently affiliated with stroke risk in those areas, separate from other known social determinants of health. These findings support the notion that structural racism, in this case taking the form of historical housing discrimination, is a factor in stroke risk independent of other social health determinants.
The research publication can be accessed here.
