Neighborhood Social Determinants of Health in Patients Seen in Neurology Movement Disorders Clinics

Abstract

Background and ObjectivesChronic health conditions are influenced by social determinants of health (SDH) including neighborhood-linked markers of affluence. We explored whether neighborhood socioeconomic factors differ in people with different types of clinical movement disorders (MDs).MethodsWe conducted a retrospective study of patients seen in MD clinics at our center in 2021. Patient data were linked to the US National Neighborhood Data Archive linked to US census tract data. We evaluated variations in neighborhood socioeconomic factors across 8 different categories of MDs.ResultsCompared with the neighborhoods of patients with Parkinson disease, neighborhoods of patients with cerebellar ataxias, functional movement disorders, and Huntington disease were characterized by higher proportions of people earning less than 15,000 US dollars/year, people receiving public assistance, and people with less than a high school diploma.DiscussionNeighborhood-linked SDH vary among different MDs. These findings have implications for public health interventions aimed at improving the care of people affected by MDs.