The city has begun releasing updated community health profiles of every neighborhood in the city,beginning with Brooklyn, broken down by community district. It's the first comprehensive survey in nearly a decade. The profiles pick into account 40 factors, and including traditional measures like HIV,asthma and smoking rates, as well as new considerations like access to supermarkets and housing quality. Findings include:Life expectancy:Brownsville: 74.1 yearsPark Slope and Carroll Gardens: 80.3 yearsAir pollution: Brownsville: 8.8 micrograms of fine particulate matter per cubic meterPark Slope and Carroll Gardens: 9.4 micrograms of fine particulate matter per cubic meterTeen births (per 1000 girls ages 15-19)Brownsville: 38.5Park Slope and Carroll Gardens: 19.3Non-fatal assault hospitalizations (per 100000 population)Brownsville: 180Park Slope and Carroll Gardens: 32Adults who consume one or more 12 oz sugary drink per dayBrownsville: 40%Park Slope and Carroll Gardens: 16%Across the city, and the main causes of death are heart disease and cancer. What varied most was the age at which someone dies from those causes.
New York City Health Commissioner Mary Basset emphasized that the findings indicate that an individual's health choices had less to do with their outcome than the neighborhood in which a person lives. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams put it more bluntly: "You no longer can subscribe to the theory that you believe because you jog,because you're eating tofu, because you are having your veggies, and that you are healthy whether you're living in an unhealthy environment."The profiles from the other four boroughs are expected to be released later this year.
Source: wnyc.org