Perceived neighborhood social cohesion and the 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease in low- and middle-income countries: The World Health Organization Study on Global Aging and Adult Health

Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) bear the greatest burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) worldwide. Emerging evidence, mostly from industrialized countries, suggest that neighborhood characteristics influence cardiovascular health. This study presents results from 27,797 participants living in six LMICs on the association of perceived neighborhood social cohesion, the degree of connectedness among neighbors, with 10-year risk of CVD. We observed that greater perceived neighborhood social cohesion was associated with lower odds of high (>20%) 10-year CVD risk (OR = 0.67, 95%CI: 0.53–0.86). These novel findings, suggest that interventions to enhance social cohesion may have beneficial effects on cardiovascular health in LMICs. •Evidence suggest that neighborhood factors influence cardiovascular disease (CVD).•However, most of this evidence come from studies conducted in high-income countries.•We evaluated this association in six low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).•We observed greater social cohesion was associated with lower 10-year CVD risk.•Interventions to enhance social cohesion may have beneficial effect on CVD in LMICs.