1. Provide the title of your story or series and the names of the journalists involved.
"Neighborhoods That Can Kill" by Peter Aldhous.
2. List date(s) this work was published or aired.
Jan. 16, 2010.
3. Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
Across the US, death rates among black women diagnosed with breast cancer are 37 percent higher than for whites, but in Chicago the difference is an astonishing 68 percent. Why does this heaving metropolis send black women to an early grave? Access to cancer screening and therapy is clearly an important factor. But it isn't the whole story. This article profiled an innovative research project at the University of Chicago which is melding social sciences with cutting-edge molecular medicine to explore how fear of crime and social isolation in some of the toughest neighborhoods on the South Side of Chicago may cause an overload of stress hormones that can change cell biology, sending tumors into overdrive. The provocative idea that social environment can affect health directly suggests opportunities for reducing health disparities by providing social support for vulnerable women through local community groups.
4. Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
Research papers published by the Chicago team and other researchers, plus slides from presentations by the researchers at scientific meetings. To put my reporting in context, I also used MapWindow GIS and the Shape2Earth plugin to create a Google Earth layer displaying socioeconomic data from the 2000 U.S. census and 2009 crime statistics from http://gis.chicagopolice.org/ for the Chicago Community Areas represented in the study (see http://www.peteraldhous.com/chicago.html , requires Google Earth browser plugin). This reference helped inform my reporting, and data for two illustrative Community Areas were used by our designers to construct the main graphic in the article. No public records requests were required.
5. Explain types of human sources used.
Women enrolled in the study; members of the research team at the University of Chicago and other researchers studying disparities in health outcomes.
6. Results (if any).
See synopsis.
7. Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
One small correction online: the sidebar ‘From City Streets To Country Roads' gave Graham Colditz's affiliation as the University of Washington in St Louis rather than Washington University in St. Louis.
8. Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Differences in health outcomes by socioeconomic status and race in the US are extreme. Understanding and attempting to mitigate these disparities is a major challenge that merits more journalistic attention. There are compelling stories to be told, if you follow the data and speak to people from affected communities — and to the health researchers who are striving to understand and address the problem.