hepdetroit.org

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Goals & Objectives

This was a basic research effort conducted with support from the National Center for Environment Health Sciences (R01 ES10936).

The aims of the project were to

1) document cardiovascular risk factors among residents of Detroit neighborhoods, and understand their relationship to race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status;
2) examine relationships between neighborhood environments (e.g., access to food, levels of air pollutants) and cardiovascular risk;
3) investigate the contributions of psychosocial stress to biological indicators of cardiovascular risk (e.g., total serum cholesterol and LDL);
4) investigate potential protective factors that may reduce the effects of neighborhood characteristics on cardiovascular risk;
5) disseminate knowledge gained to inform new and established intervention and policy efforts in Detroit.

Data Collection

We conducted several focus groups to examine residents' perceptions of stressors in their neighborhoods that might affect health. We also conducted a community survey (2002-2003) with 918 adult residents of eastside, northwest and southwest Detroit to learn more about residents' perceptions of, and experiences with, their neighborhoods, life stressors, and health status. Some survey participants also elected to participate in a second component of the study, involving measurement of biological indicators of cardiovascular risk. We also completed observations of neighborhood characteristics of 550 blocks in the neighborhoods where survey respondents lived. Finally, we analyzed air quality data collected as part of a sister project, Community Action Against Asthma (NIEHS R01 #), to examine its effects on cardiovascular risk.

Community Education and Outreach

A major aim of the grant was to disseminate findings from the study to the Detroit community, and through presentations at national scientific meetings. Between 2000 and 2006,  academic and community Steering Committee members participated in over 40 co-presentations and/or sponsored community events to disseminate what we learned from the study.