Lawrence Elizabeth, Hummer Robert A, Harris Kathleen Mullan
Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill.
Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill.
Ann Am Acad Pol Soc Sci. 2017 Jul;672(1):257-281. doi: 10.1177/0002716217711426. Epub 2017 Jun 23.
U.S. young adults coming of age in the early 21 Century are the first cohort to grow up during the obesity epidemic; justifiably, there is much concern about their cardiovascular health. To date, however, no research has examined the extent to which there are disparities in young adult cardiovascular health across the urban-rural continuum. We examine this topic using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. We find that young adults who live in metropolitan core areas exhibit more favorable cardiovascular health than individuals who live in smaller types of communities, and that population density largely accounts for this association. Further, individuals living in more densely populated areas in young adulthood relative to adolescence have better cardiovascular health than those who live in areas similar or less dense than their adolescent residence. Our results strongly suggest that the physical and social features of communities represent important contexts for young adult cardiovascular health.
21世纪初成年的美国年轻人是在肥胖流行期间长大的第一代人；理所当然地，人们非常关注他们的心血管健康。然而，迄今为止，尚无研究探讨在城乡连续体中，年轻成人的心血管健康存在差异的程度。我们使用青少年到成人健康全国纵向研究的数据来研究这个话题。我们发现，生活在大都市核心地区的年轻成人比生活在较小类型社区的人表现出更有利的心血管健康，而且人口密度在很大程度上解释了这种关联。此外，与青春期相比，成年早期生活在人口更密集地区的个体比那些生活在与其青少年时期居住地区密度相似或更低地区的个体有更好的心血管健康。我们的结果有力地表明，社区的物理和社会特征是年轻成人心血管健康的重要背景。
