An interesting new studyreveals that women who live in Chicago's gentrifying neighborhoods are not as likely as their female counterparts in other neighborhoods to get early breast cancer screening. This leads to a wider hypothesis that the screening and preventive care experienced by those in neighborhoods undergoing gentrification may be lacking. The assumption was that as neighborhoods got better, preventive health care would be more likely. However, this doesn't seem to be the case. It is believed that the disruption to life in general makes it likely that people in this transitionary place in life will not seek out preventive health care but will instead wait for symptoms to develop before taking the time to see a doctor.
"The UIC researchers suggest that women living in upward-changing neighborhoods may experience disruption of social networks, interruption in access to health care services, and stress relating to social isolation and financial problems as housing costs rise." (source)
The hope is that people will begin to recognize this problem and engage in active education about the importance of preventive health in neighborhoods across the nation that are currently undergoing gentrification. Question of the Day: Does this information surprise you?
