Abstract WP189: Association Between Neighborhood Socioeconomic Characteristics, Cardiovascular Health, And Incidence Of Stroke

Introduction: Social and environment factors are associated with increased stroke risk. It is unclear if favorable cardiovascular health may attenuate this risk. We evaluated the impact of neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics on stroke incidence, and if levels of cardiovascular health modify this relationship. Methods: We conducted a longitudinal cohort study of Black and White participants using data from the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke. We included all stroke-free participants and geocoded their home addresses to the census-tract level. Our primary exposure was neighborhood socioeconomic condition index (nSES; in quartiles) constructed using data from the U.S. Census on income, education, and occupation of residents by census tract. We evaluated cardiovascular health based on the American Heart Association’s Life Simple 7 (ideal, adequate, inadequate). We used a Cox proportional hazards model to regress nSES and its interaction with Life Simple 7 on stroke incidence, adjusting for individual demographics, socioeconomic status, and clinical characteristics. Results: We included 26,941 adults with a mean follow-up of 11.6 years (SD ± 5.2). During the study, 1,596 (5.9%) participants had a first incidence of stroke. Participants within the lowest nSES quartile, compared to those in the highest, were more likely to be Black, have lower household income, and an inadequate Life Simple 7 score. In multivariable models, there was a non-significant increased incidence of stroke (HR-1.13; 95% CI: 0.95-1.35) between the lowest and highest nSES quartiles. The interaction between nSES and Life Simple 7 was also non-significant for stroke incidence with worse cardiovascular health across all quartiles. Discussion: Among a national cohort of Black and White adults, we found a non-significant difference in stroke incidence between adults who live in worse neighborhood socioeconomic conditions and have inadequate cardiovascular health. Characterizing the potential contribution of social, environmental, and health behaviors could inform clinical and public health strategies to mitigate stroke risk.