Effects of Community Assets on Major Health Conditions in England: A Data Analytic Approach
The broader determinants of health including community assets are important in relation to public health outcomes. The paper quantified the effect of community assets on major health conditions in England over six years. Community assets including health system indices, green space, pollution, poverty, urban environment, safety, and sport and leisure facilities, were quantified in relation to major health conditions (cancer, dementia, diabetes, cardiovascular, high blood pressure, kidney and liver disease, mental health, musculoskeletal, obesity, and respiratory). For each health condition, a statistical model was calculated and the number of significant community assets for each health condition was recorded.
The results suggest that diversity and richness of community assets are key to major health condition outcomes. Primary care service waiting times and distance to public parks were significant predictors of all health conditions examined. Primary care waiting times explained the vast majority of the variance across health conditions, with the exception of obesity, which was better explained by absolute poverty.
The majority of determinants of health could be accounted for by healthcare system performance and distance to public green space and socioeconomic variables. Whilst the performance of the public health system remains of key importance, community assets and local infrastructure remain paramount to the broader determinants of health.
See full article: https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12161608
Resource Output from the Mobilising Community Assets to Tackle Health Inequalities (MCA) Programme
Mobilising Community Assets (MCA) is a three-phase UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funded Research Programme running from 2021 to 2027. It is coordinated by the Culture-Nature-Health Research Group at University College London, in partnership with the National Centre for Creative Health (NCCH) and funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), led by Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), with Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Medical Research Council (MRC). MCA has encouraged the projects it has funded throughout the UK to share knowledge and approaches to integration of community assets into the integrated care structures that exist in the local communities.
