Heart Association statement ties poor housing quality to cardiovascular problems

The American Heart Association released a scientific statement detailing the many correlations between homelessness, low-quality housing and neighborhood environment with the prevalence of cardiovascular disease and its risk factors (Source: “AHA: Housing status significant risk factor in development of CVD,” Cardiology Today via Healio, July 15, 2020).

According to the statement, which was published in the journal Circulation, adults who are homeless may experience up to 70% higher rates of cardiovascular events compared with the general population.

This association may be a result of the lack of cardiovascular risk factor diagnosis in this population, the inherent barriers to care, medication initiation and adherence and access to healthy foods.

"The disparities in cardiovascular health among people who are homeless and marginally housed are largely due to psychosocial stressors, unhealthy behaviors used as coping mechanisms and barriers to health care, including lack of insurance and stigmatization among this population,” Mario Sims, a professor in the department of medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson and chair of the writing group for the scientific statement, said in a press release.