Violent crime rates on the South and West Sides of Chicago are linked to high blood pressure and obesity, according to a new study published by a research team at the University of Chicago Medicine.
It is one of the first studies to match police records with the health records of patients, many of whom live in areas of the city with daily exposure to violent crime.
The study showed that patients in areas with high violent crime had 53 percent higher odds of being obese and 25 percent higher odds of having hypertension, compared to patients living in areas with less crime. These associations were also more pronounced among women.
Of the 14,799 patients examined in this study, 42 percent were obese and 33 percent had high blood pressure. Most patients were African American and 45 years and older. Half of the patients were recipients of Medicaid and/or Medicare.
The researchers concluded that repeated exposure to so-called “everyday violent crime” may have a stronger effect on cardiovascular health and metabolism than exposure to a single violent crime incident, pointing to potential impacts on the body over time from living in a high crime area.