That deprivation and ill-health may be linked is well known. But new research into the link between Londoners' socio-economic circumstances and their risk of hospitalisation for cardiovascular disease offers some surprising findings. "Basically after accounting for various individual level socio-economic characteristics and using our new methodology, we found scarcely any remaining variation in the risk of being hospitalised for heart disease between different London districts," explains researcher Professor Sylvia Richardson.
On the other hand, this study identifies a marked difference in the prevalence of limiting long-term illnesses (for example, asthma, chronic bronchitis and diabetes) between London's deprived and nondeprived neighbourhoods. In the case of male Londoners aged 45 to 59, researchers found that non-white ethnicity, low household income and neighbourhood deprivation were associated with an increased risk of limiting long-term illness. Researchers now aim to conduct a range of other studies of disease risk. These include a study of environmental benzene exposure and childhood leukaemia in London, and a project studying low birth weight and its relationship with air pollution and socio-economic characteristics.