Background: We examined the incremental influence on survival of neighbourhood material and social deprivation while accounting for individual level socioeconomic status in a large population-based cohort of Canadians.
Methods: More than 500,000 adults were followed for 22 years between 1982 and 2004. Tax records provided information on sex, income, marital status and postal code while a linkage was used to determine vital status. Cox models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) for quintiles of neighbourhood material and social deprivation.
Results: There were 180,000 deaths over the follow-up period. In unadjusted analyses, those living in the most materially deprived neighbourhoods had elevated risks of mortality (HR(males) 1.37, 95% CI: 1.33-1.41; HR(females) 1.20, 95% CI: 1.16-1.24) when compared with those living in the least deprived neighbourhoods. Mortality risk was also elevated for those living in socially deprived neighbourhoods (HR(males) 1.15, CI: 1.12-1.18; HR(females) 1.15, CI: 1.12-1.19). Mortality risk associated with material deprivation remained elevated in models that adjusted for individual factors (HR(males) 1.20, CI: 1.17-1.24; HR(females) 1.16, CI: 1.13-1.20) and this was also the case for social deprivation (HR(males) 1.12, CI: 1.09-1.15; HR(females) 1.09, CI: 1.05-1.12). Immigrant neighbourhoods were protective of mortality risk for both sexes. Being poor and living in the most socially advantageous neighbourhoods translated into a survival gap of 10% over those in the most socially deprived neighbourhoods. The gap for material neighbourhood deprivation was 7%.
Conclusions: Living in socially and materially deprived Canadian neighbourhoods was associated with elevated mortality risk while we noted a "healthy immigrant neighbourhood effect". For those with low family incomes, living in socially and materially deprived areas negatively affected survival beyond their individual circumstances.