Residential Racial Isolation and Spatial Patterning of Hypertension in Durham, North Carolina

Introduction Neighborhood characteristics such as racial segregation may be associated with hypertension, but studies have not examined these relationships using spatial models appropriate for geographically patterned health outcomes. The objectives of our study were to 1) evaluate the geographic heterogeneity of hypertension; 2) describe whether and how patient-level risk factors and racial isolation relate to geographic heterogeneity in hypertension; and 3) examine cross-sectional associations of hypertension with racial isolation.