Your neighborhood’s overall socioeconomic status may influence your risk of chronic kidney disease, according to a study published in SSM Population Health by researchers from the Dornsife School of Public Health.

In a study of over 23,000 adult Philadelphians seen in a primary care practice in 2016 or 2017, the authors found that those living in low socioeconomic status neighborhoods (factoring in neighborhood income, educational attainment and occupation), were more likely to have kidney disease than those living in higher socioeconomic status neighborhoods.

The authors adjusted for individual age, race, sex and insurance type.

“Our main finding, that people who are living in neighborhoods with the fewest financial resources are at highest risk for kidney disease, should be a call to health providers to integrate knowledge about their patients’ environments into tailored care processes,” says senior author Meera Harhay, an associate professor of medicine at the College of Medicine and Dornsife School of Public Health.

“Policymakers should also direct resources to these at-risk communities so that we can identify kidney disease earlier and promote better health in vulnerable populations,” she recommends.