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In several conditions, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the health results for black individuals are poorer than white adults. To assess the potential contribution of socioeconomic status (SES) disadvantage on an individual and community level to racial differences in COPD outcomes. We assessed respiratory outcomes by race using regression with a generalized linear mixed model, controlling the variables and SES traits at the individual, neighborhood and sequential levels. After removing the risk factors for COPD, wider airways were much more common in black subjects, with severe exacerbations and emphysema prevalence than white participants. Once individual-level SES has been taken into consideration, which can account for up to 12 to 35% of racial variations, respiratory outcomes and the black race had a weaker link but they link with statistical significance. Additional adjustments revealed that the SES at the neighborhood level was between 26 and 54 percent, which was to blame for the differences in respiratory outcomes between races. Black people remained to have a higher incidence of severe exacerbation and worse CT results even after adjusting for both individual and community SES variables.
Gambhir et al. (Fri,) studied this question.