The Association of Neighborhood Medical Facilities with Aging in Place and Risk of Incident Myocardial Infarction.

Aging in place (residential stability) is a desirable means of aging where adults remain in their homes, even when facing challenges that impair their capacity for self-care. Residential stability, especially following acute health challenges, depends on individual and community factors, possibly including proximity to medical facilities. We explored the association between the density of medical facilities around homes with risk of incident myocardial infarction (MI) and with aging in place following incident MI. Densities of neighborhood pharmacies were not associated with aging in place or time to MI. High densities of neighborhood clinical care facilities were significantly associated with decreased residential stability. The lack of significant associations between medical facility exposures and MI-related outcomes, coupled with prior findings, casts doubt on their salience and may indicate that other neighborhood features are more strongly associated with these outcomes.