Abstract MP52: Sex Differences In The Association Between Neighborhood Social Vulnerability And Psychological Distress Among Patients With Heart Disease
Authors: Samaah Sullivan, An Young, Mariana Garcia, Zakaria Almuwaqqat, Kasra Moazzami, Muhammad Hammadah, Jeong Hwan Kim, Bruno B Lima, Emily G Driggers, Oleksiy Levantsevych, Lisa Elon, Tene T Lewis, Amit J Shah, James Douglas Bremner, Arshed A Quyyumi, Viola Vaccarino
Journal: Circulation (2021)

Introduction: Psychological stress disorders are twice as prevalent in women with ischemic heart disease compared to their male counterparts. The disproportionate psychological health experience of these women is not well understood. Neighborhood social factors may help to explain disparities in psychological risk by sex. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that in patients with a recent myocardial infarction, living in neighborhoods with higher social vulnerability would be associated with greater psychological distress. We also hypothesized that this association would be moderated by sex, with a greater association among women than men. Methods: We studied 286 patients with heart disease recruited from Emory-based hospitals in the Myocardial Infarction and Mental Stress 2 Study. We used the social vulnerability index (SVI) developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to rank patients’ census tracks on 14 social factors, including unemployment, lack of vehicle access, and crowded housing, which are further grouped into four themes: socioeconomic status; household composition; minority status and language; and housing and transportation. Census tracts received a percentile ranking (0-100%), overall and for each theme, with higher values indicating greater social vulnerability. We calculated a global measure of psychological distress by ranking each participant on each of six symptom scales (depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, anger, hostility, and perceived stress) and then taking an average of all ranks. Multilevel linear regression models were used to account for individuals nested within census tracts. Beta coefficients for mean ranks in psychological distress scores were estimated per 10-unit increase in SVI percentile ranking. Results: The mean age of the sample was 51 years (range: 26-61); 49% were women and 66% African American. Women in higher SVI census tracts had greater psychological distress scores. After adjusting for demographics (age, race, individual-level education and income), lifestyle and medical risk factors, and anti-depressant use, there were significant differences by sex (SVI-by-sex-interaction = 0.01) such that each 10 unit increase in SVI percentile ranking was associated with 4.09 (95% CI: 0.02, 8.08; p = 0.05) unit increase in mean scores for psychological distress among women only. These associations were driven by the SVI themes of lower socioeconomic status and poorer access to housing and transportation. There were no significant interactions by race. Conclusions: We show for the first time that neighborhood social vulnerability is associated with psychological distress among women with heart disease. These findings support the role of contextual influences of the neighborhood environment on the mental health of high-risk women, independent of individual-level measures of income and education.