Multimorbidity and place

This presentation shares findings from a work package within the AIM-CISC project at the University of Edinburgh that is using a range of data to explore clustering of multimorbidity in neighbourhood and according to individual characteristics. Among the various characteristics of place that  we consider in this talk, we find that both material neighbourhood deprivation and social aspects of neighbourhoods (such as neighbourhood belonging) each independently predict risk of multimorbidity with loneliness a plausible pathway underpinning associations. Social aspects of place are very much neglected in geodemographic profiles (such as the Index of Multiple Deprivation) and, in response, we present a core contribution of our AIM-CISC work that develops neighbourhood profiles based on themes emerging in geo-referenced local Edinburgh media (newspaper) text data. These themes capture unmeasured aspects of place (such as low-level social disorder) and we will present results that evaluate whether they are useful in predicting and further understanding spatial inequalities in the risks of multimorbidity.