NEIGHBOURHOOD QUALITY AND HEALTH STATUS: VULNERABILITIES IN THE CENTRAL AREA OF A BRAZILIAN METROPOLIS
METHODS: Information about self-rated health comes from a previous study carried out in 300-home sectors, which constituted the neighborhood in this study. Primary data about these neighborhoods were collected through Systematic Social Observation Method. Then, clusters were created according to the neighborhood characteristics (physical factors, traffic level, security level, social interactions and physical disorder) and later cross-analyzed with individual information such as sex, age, income, schooling level, and self-rated health. RESULTS: Five neighborhood clusters were formed. Two of them, regarded as better ones, presented good physical environment, good security level, and low level of disorder, but showed differences in relation to social interaction and exclusion. In the first one, there was high level of interaction and some exclusion, whereas in the second one there was little interaction and little exclusion. Two other clusters, regarded as intermediate ones, presented fair physical environment, fair security level and some disorder, also showing differences in relation to social interaction and exclusion. One of them presented little interaction and little exclusion, whereas the other presented high level of interaction and high level of exclusion. Since the last cluster was a slum, it showed much difference in relation to the others, and presented the worst characteristics: bad physical environment, low level of security, high level of physical disorder, fair social interaction and little exclusion. Multivariate analysis showed that individual data, such as age and schooling level, influence self-rated health. It also showed that the neighborhood context is an influence too, even after the control of these individual characteristics
CONCLUSIONS: Neighborhoods in the central area of São Paulo municipality present inequalities and exert influence on self-rated health.