Analysis Of Salmonella Data For Health Disparities By Socioeconomic Status, King County, WA, 2000 and 2010 (CSTE Health Disparities Pilot Project)

BACKGROUND:   In 2011, a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention highlighted national disparities in access to healthcare, environmental hazards, morbidity, mortality and other health-related factors. Subsequently, the CSTE Health Disparities Subcommittee announced a pilot project, encouraging state and local health jurisdictions to analyze public health data for health disparities by race and ethnicity as well as socioeconomic status. Public Health – Seattle & King County (PHSKC) has known disparities by race and ethnicity and poverty level, including infant mortality, diabetes mortality and HIV/AIDS mortality. Little is known about disparities in other communicable diseases. As a CSTE pilot project awardee, PHSKC analyzed data on cases of salmonellosis in 2000 and 2010 for disparities by age, race and poverty level, using the methodology established by the Harvard University Public Health Disparities Geocoding Project.

METHODS:   There were 205 and 229 cases of salmonellosis among King County residents in 2000 and 2010, respectively. Street-level geocoding to the census tract level was achieved using the SAS System version 9.3 (Cary, NC). Ninety eight percent of the cases in 2000 and 99% of the cases in 2010 were successfully geocoded using this method. Complete race data was available for 82% of the cases in 2000 and 95% of the cases in 2010. King County population counts from the 2000 and 2010 census were downloaded from the U.S. Census Bureau web site. These counts were stratified by age group (<5 years, 5-18 years, 19 to 44 years, and 45+ years) and by race (White and non-White). The percent of persons living below poverty level by census tract in King County was obtained from the 2000 decennial census and the 2005-2009 American Community Survey 5-year population estimates and grouped based on the following cutpoints: Under 5%, 5.0-9.9%, 10.0-19.9%, and >20%. The geocoded cases were then aggregated by age group and race, and linked to the King County population data for 2000 and 2010 and to the poverty level. We then calculated race- and age-specific as well as age-standardized rates of salmonellosis among impoverished census tracts.

RESULTS:   This abstract is being submitted as part of the CSTE Health Disparities Subcommittee Pilot Project to Analyze Public Health Data for Health Disparities by Socioeconomic Status Using Census Tract Poverty Level. As this is a work in progress, we have been instructed to submit only the background and methods of the abstract at this time.

CONCLUSIONS: See above.