Intraurban variations in adult mortality in a large Latin American city

Socioeconomic inequities of COVID-19 mortality in vulnerable Comunas of the City of Buenos Aires

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the gap in health inequities was exposed and increased, showing how different vulnerable groups were affected. Our aim was to examine the correlation between an area-based health inequity index and mortality due to COVID-19 in people 60 years old or above in the City of Buenos Aires in 2020. We developed a Health Inequity Composite Index (HICI), including six core indicators. Each indicator value per Comuna was first standardized to a Z-score. All six Z-scores were summed into a final composite Z-score to rank the Comunas from lowest to highest social inequities. Comunas from the northern part of the city had lower inequities whereas those in the south had higher levels of inequities. COVID-19 age-standardized mortality rate in people 60 years or above was higher in the Comunas from the south and lower in those from the north. Finally, we found a strong positive correlation (Rho = 0.83, p < 0.0001 CI95% = 0.65-0.99) between HICI and age-standardized mortality rates from COVID-19 in people 60 years or above. Our finding of a strong correlation between the levels of health inequity and mortality calls for a concerted effort in narrowing or eliminating existing inequities.

Economic fluctuations and educational inequalities in premature ischemic heart disease mortality in Argentina

Although mortality from ischemic heart disease has declined over the past decades in Argentina, ischemic heart disease remains one of the most frequent causes of death. This study aimed to describe the role of individual and contextual factors on premature ischemic heart disease mortality and to analyze how educational differentials in premature ischemic heart disease mortality changed during economic fluctuations in two provinces of Argentina from 1990 to 2018. To test the relationship between individual (age, sex, and educational level) and contextual (urbanization, poverty, and macroeconomic variations) factors, a multilevel Poisson model was estimated. When controlling for the level of poverty at the departmental level, we observed inequalities in premature ischemic heart disease mortality according to the educational level of individuals, affecting population of low educational level. Moreover, economic expansion was related to an increase in ischemic heart disease mortality, however, expansion years were not associated with increasing educational inequalities in ischemic heart disease mortality. At the departmental level, we found no contextual association beween area-related socioeconomic level and the risk of ischemic heart disease mortality. Despite the continuing decline in ischemic heart disease mortality in Argentina, this study highlighted that social inequalities in mortality risk increased over time. Therefore, prevention policies should be more focused on populations of lower socioeconomic status in Argentina.

Intraurban socioeconomic inequalities in life expectancy: a population-based cross-sectional analysis in the city of Córdoba, Argentina (2015-2018)

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate variability in life expectancy at birth in small areas, describe the spatial pattern of life expectancy, and examine associations between small-area socioeconomic characteristics and life expectancy in a mid-sized city of a middle-income country.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional, using data from death registries (2015-2018) and socioeconomic characteristics data from the 2010 national population census.

PARTICIPANTS/SETTING

40 898 death records in 99 small areas of the city of Córdoba, Argentina. We summarised variability in life expectancy at birth by using the difference between the 90th and 10th percentile of the distribution of life expectancy across small areas (P90-P10 gap) and evaluated associations with small-area socioeconomic characteristics by calculating a Slope Index of Inequality in linear regression.

PRIMARY OUTCOME

Life expectancy at birth.

RESULTS

The median life expectancy at birth was 80.3 years in women (P90-P10 gap=3.2 years) and 75.1 years in men (P90-P10 gap=4.6 years). We found higher life expectancies in the core and northwest parts of the city, especially among women. We found positive associations between life expectancy and better small-area socioeconomic characteristics, especially among men. Mean differences in life expectancy between the highest versus the lowest decile of area characteristics in men (women) were 3.03 (2.58), 3.52 (2.56) and 2.97 (2.31) years for % adults with high school education or above, % persons aged 15-17 attending school, and % households with water inside the dwelling, respectively. Lower values of % overcrowded households and unemployment rate were associated with longer life expectancy: mean differences comparing the lowest versus the highest decile were 3.03 and 2.73 in men and 2.57 and 2.34 years in women, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Life expectancy is substantially heterogeneous and patterned by socioeconomic characteristics in a mid-sized city of a middle-income country, suggesting that small-area inequities in life expectancy are not limited to large cities or high-income countries.

Moving around a Large City in Latin America: The Mobility Challenges Faced by Older Adults with Disabilities

A growing body of research has shown that barriers in the urban environment can be disabling by reducing the ability of older people to manage independently in the community, but also because they can negatively affect health by limiting the possibilities to move outside the home. In this study, we ask how obstacles in the urban environment are associated with the need for help to go to places in the community. To respond to this question, we used the Annual Household Survey of the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina 2018, which had a specific questionnaire for people with disabilities. From this sample, we selected adults aged 65 years or older with difficulties in at least one of six domains: vision; hearing; upper and lower body mobility; cognition; self-care; and communication. The final sample consisted of 513 persons (weighted = 109,316). First, we conducted a principal component analysis identifying three factors from variables of obstacles to access and use the urban environment: transportation; outdoor spaces; and information. Second, through a logistic regression model, we observed a direct relationship between these factors and the need for help to move in the community, controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, health status, and number of disabilities. This paper provides evidence on the significance of improving urban spaces to reduce dependent mobility. In Latin America, cities still face many challenges in becoming more age-friendly.

Spatial distribution of neighborhood-level housing prices and its association with all-cause mortality in Seoul, Korea (2013-2018): A spatial panel data analysis

Housing prices are known to be a relevant indicator of the socioeconomic position of the neighborhood. In a society where the market system mainly drives housing prices, residents' spatial patterning is formulated according to their socioeconomic position. Dividing the 2013-2018 entire study period into three periods, we explored the spatial distribution of housing prices and all-cause mortality and their association in Seoul, the country's capital city. The government authorities' data and 2015 census data were used for the study. We mapped the spatial distribution of housing prices and all-cause mortality and investigated the changes in distribution. We conducted a pooled ordinary least square (OLS) and spatial panel regression analysis to estimate housing prices elasticity of all-cause mortality. We also explored the possible mediating role of housing prices on the educational composition's effect on all-cause mortality. We found the common trends of increasing spatial patterning of housing prices and all-cause mortality. The magnitude of spatial patterning was far greater in housing prices than all-cause mortality. A pooled OLS regression analysis found that a 1% increase in housing price was associated with a 0.11% reduction in all-cause mortality after controlling the explanatory variables. Attenuation in the regression coefficient's magnitude was found after adding the neighborhood's educational composition to the model. As a result of spatial panel analysis, we found a direction and scale similar to the housing price elasticity of all-cause mortality in the final pooled OLS model. The results suggested that spatial health inequality in Korea's urban space mainly stems from socioeconomic inequality.

Urban social determinants of non-communicable diseases risk factors in Argentina

We examined associations of individual-, neighborhood- and city-level education -as proxies of SES at different levels-, with diabetes, hypertension, obesity, smoking and binge drinking (non-communicable disease risk factors -NCD/RF) among Argentinian adults. We estimated mixed models based on 21,415 individuals from the 2013 National Survey of Risk Factors, living in 2,698 neighborhoods and 33 cities. Gradients by individual-level education differed by gender and NCD/RF, and some were modified by city education. In addition, we identified contextual effects of neighborhood and city education on some NCD/RF. Urban efforts to tackle NCD/RF in Argentina should be context- and gender-sensitive, and mainly focused on socially disadvantaged groups.

Inequalities in life expectancy in six large Latin American cities from the SALURBAL study: an ecological analysis

BACKGROUND

Latin America is one of the most unequal regions in the world, but evidence is lacking on the magnitude of health inequalities in urban areas of the region. Our objective was to examine inequalities in life expectancy in six large Latin American cities and its association with a measure of area-level socioeconomic status.

METHODS

In this ecological analysis, we used data from the Salud Urbana en America Latina (SALURBAL) study on six large cities in Latin America (Buenos Aires, Argentina; Belo Horizonte, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; San José, Costa Rica; Mexico City, Mexico; and Panama City, Panama), comprising 266 subcity units, for the period 2011-15 (expect for Panama city, which was for 2012-16). We calculated average life expectancy at birth by sex and subcity unit with life tables using age-specific mortality rates estimated from a Bayesian model, and calculated the difference between the ninth and first decile of life expectancy at birth (P90-P10 gap) across subcity units in cities. We also analysed the association between life expectancy at birth and socioeconomic status at the subcity-unit level, using education as a proxy for socioeconomic status, and whether any geographical patterns existed in cities between subcity units.

FINDINGS

We found large spatial differences in average life expectancy at birth in Latin American cities, with the largest P90-P10 gaps observed in Panama City (15·0 years for men and 14·7 years for women), Santiago (8·9 years for men and 17·7 years for women), and Mexico City (10·9 years for men and 9·4 years for women), and the narrowest in Buenos Aires (4·4 years for men and 5·8 years for women), Belo Horizonte (4·0 years for men and 6·5 years for women), and San José (3·9 years for men and 3·0 years for women). Higher area-level socioeconomic status was associated with higher life expectancy, especially in Santiago (change in life expectancy per P90-P10 change unit-level of educational attainment 8·0 years [95% CI 5·8-10·3] for men and 11·8 years [7·1-16·4] for women) and Panama City (7·3 years [2·6-12·1] for men and 9·0 years [2·4-15·5] for women). We saw an increase in life expectancy at birth from east to west in Panama City and from north to south in core Mexico City, and a core-periphery divide in Buenos Aires and Santiago. Whereas for San José the central part of the city had the lowest life expectancy and in Belo Horizonte the central part of the city had the highest life expectancy.

INTERPRETATION

Large spatial differences in life expectancy in Latin American cities and their association with social factors highlight the importance of area-based approaches and policies that address social inequalities in improving health in cities of the region.

FUNDING

Wellcome Trust.

Cancer Mortality in Córdoba, Argentina, 1986–2006: An Age-Period-Cohort Analysis

Aims and background

Cancer is the second main cause of death in Argentina, surpassed only by cardiovascular disease. However, analytical approaches isolating some of the known effects, such as age at death, period of death and birth cohort, have never been performed in cancer mortality studies in Argentina. The aim of this study was to analyze cancer mortality trends in a representative region of the country, the Córdoba province (1986–2006).

Methods and study design

Overall age-standardized (world population) mortality rates for cancer (all sites) were computed by a direct method. Joinpoint regression was fitted to the age-standardized mortality rates for both sexes to provide estimated and 95% confidence intervals of the annual percentage changes. The effects of age (15 age groups), period of death (1986–90, 1991–95, 1996–00 or 2001–06), and birth cohort (18 overlapping 10-year birth cohorts) covariates on mortality rates were estimated using a sequentially fitted Poisson regression model.

Results

During the study period, 102,737 people died of cancer in Córdoba, with the age-standardized mortality rates decreasing from 139.3 to 118.7/100,000 person-years. Although this reduction was more noticeable in men, the joinpoint regression model showed a significant change of the age-standardized mortality rates after 1996 in both sexes. Age-period-cohort analysis suggested that the cancer mortality trends may be linked with a strong age effect and a moderate or mild period and cohort effect, related to sex and place of residence.

Conclusions

Based on the observed cohort effect, it maybe argued that there has been a lower exposure level to some risk factors, such as diet and other environmental factors, in Cordoba over the last decades.

Is prostate cancer incidence worldwide linked to artificial light at night exposures? Review of earlier findings and analysis of current trends

Widespread use of artificial light at night (ALAN) might contribute to the global burden of hormone-dependent cancers. Previous attempts to verify this association in population-level studies have been sparse. Using GLOBOCAN, US-DMSP, and World Bank 2010-2012 databases, we studied the association between ALAN and prostate cancer (PC) incidence in 180 countries worldwide, controlling for several country-level confounders. The PC-ALAN association emerged marginally significant when year-2012 PC age-standardized rate data were compared with ALAN levels (t = 1.886, p < .1); this association was more significant (t > 2.7; p < .01) when only 110 countries with well-maintained cancer registries were analyzed. Along with other variables, ALAN explains up to 79% of PC ASR variability. PC-ALAN association appears to vary regionally, with the greatest deviations in Central Africa, Small Island Developing States, Southeast Asia, and Gulf States.

Disaggregating health inequalities within Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2002-2010, by applying an urban health inequality index

An urban health index (UHI) was used to quantify health inequalities within Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the years 2002-2010. Eight main health indicators were generated at the ward level using mortality data. The indicators were combined to form the index. The distribution of the rank ordered UHI-values provides information on inequality among wards, using the ratio of the extremes and the gradient of the middle values. Over the decade the ratio of extremes in 2010 declined relative to 2002 (1.57 vs. 1.32) as did the slope of the middle values (0.23 vs. 0.16). A spatial division between the affluent south and the deprived north and east is still visible. The UHI correlated on an ecological ward-level with socioeconomic and urban environment indicators like square meter price of apartments (0.54, p < 0.01), low education of mother (-0.61, p < 0.01), low income (-0.62, p < 0.01) and proportion of black ethnicity (-0.55, p < 0.01). The results suggest that population health and equity have improved in Rio de Janeiro in the last decade though some familiar patterns of spatial inequality remain.

Inequalities in mortality by socioeconomic factors and Roma ethnicity in the two biggest cities in Slovakia: a multilevel analysis

Background

The socioeconomic and ethnic composition of urban neighbourhoods may affect mortality, but evidence on Central European cities is lacking. The aim of this study was to assess the associations between socioeconomic and ethnic neighbourhood indicators and the mortality of individuals aged 20–64 years old in the two biggest cities of the Slovak Republic.

Methods

We obtained data on the characteristics of neighbourhoods and districts (educational level, unemployment, income and share of Roma) and on individual mortality of residents aged 20–64 years old, for the two largest cities in the Slovak Republic (Bratislava and Kosice) in the period 2003–2005. We performed multilevel Poisson regression analyses adjusted for age and gender on the individual (mortality), neighbourhood (education level and share of Roma in population) and district levels (unemployment and income).

Results

The proportions of Roma and of low-educated residents were associated with mortality at the neighbourhood level in both cities. Mutually adjusted, only the association with the proportion of Roma remained in the model (risk ratio 1.02; 95 % confidence interval 1.01–1.04). The area indicators – high education, income and unemployment – were not associated with mortality.

Conclusion

The proportion of Roma is associated with early mortality in the two biggest cities in the Slovak Republic.

Mortality, material deprivation and urbanization: exploring the social patterns of a metropolitan area

Introduction

Socioeconomic inequalities affecting health are of major importance in Europe. The literature enhances the role of social determinants of health, such as socioeconomic characteristics and urbanization, to achieve health equity. Yet, there is still much to know, mainly concerning the association between cause-specific mortality and several social determinants, especially in metropolitan areas.

This study aims to describe the geographical pattern of cause-specific mortality in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (LMA), at small area level (parishes), and analyses the statistical association between mortality risk and health determinants (material deprivation and urbanization level). Fourteen causes have been selected, representing almost 60 % of total mortality between 1995 and 2008, particularly those associated with urbanization and material deprivation.

Methods

A cross-sectional ecological study was carried out. Using a hierarchical Bayesian spatial model, we estimated sex–specific smoothed Standardized Mortality Ratios (sSMR) and measured the relative risks (RR), and 95 % credible intervals, for cause-specific mortality relative to 1. urbanization level, 2. material deprivation and 3. material deprivation adjusted by urbanization.

Results

The statistical association between mortality and material deprivation and between mortality and urbanization changes by cause of death and sex. Dementia and MN larynx, trachea, bronchus and lung are the causes of death showing higher relative risk associated with urbanization. Infectious and parasitic diseases, Chronic liver disease and Diabetes are the causes of death presenting higher relative risk associated with material deprivation. Ischemic heart disease was the only cause with a statistical association with both determinants, and MN female breast was the only without any statistical association. Urbanization level reduces the impact of material deprivation for most of the causes of death. Men face a higher impact of material deprivation and urbanization level, than women, in most cause-specific mortality, even when considering the adjusted model.

Conclusions

Our findings explore the specific pattern of fourteen causes of death in LMA and reveals small areas with an excess risk of mortality associated with material deprivation, thereby identifying problematic areas that could potentially benefit from public policies effecting social inequalities.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12939-015-0182-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

[Effect of socioeconomic status on mortality in urban areas: a systematic critical review]

Socioeconomic inequalities cause more disease and death than most risk factors, especially in cities. This systematic review of the scientific evidence included articles in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian and excluded studies with low levels of evidence and those that did not analyze associations between mortality and socioeconomic status in urban settings. Articles were selected by two independent reviewers, and data extraction used evidence tables. A total of 1,509 records were obtained, and 24 were included. All the studies showed higher mortality rates in poorer areas. Six studies showed an association with cardiovascular diseases, four with lung diseases, and three with AIDS, infectious and parasitic diseases, and cirrhosis. The selected studies showed low consistency in the results and important methodological limitations that prevented comparisons between studies or the extraction of relevant conclusions.

Socioeconomic inequalities in mortality in 16 European cities

AIMS

To explore inequalities in total mortality between small areas of 16 European cities for men and women, as well as to analyse the relationship between these geographical inequalities and their socioeconomic indicators.

METHODS

A cross-sectional ecological design was used to analyse small areas in 16 European cities (26,229,104 inhabitants). Most cities had mortality data for a period between 2000 and 2008 and population size data for the same period. Socioeconomic indicators included an index of socioeconomic deprivation, unemployment, and educational level. We estimated standardised mortality ratios and controlled for their variability using Bayesian models. We estimated relative risk of mortality and excess number of deaths according to socioeconomic indicators.

RESULTS

We observed a consistent pattern of inequality in mortality in almost all cities, with mortality increasing in parallel with socioeconomic deprivation. Socioeconomic inequalities in mortality were more pronounced for men than women, and relative inequalities were greater in Eastern and Northern European cities, and lower in some Western (men) and Southern (women) European cities. The pattern of excess number of deaths was slightly different, with greater inequality in some Western and Northern European cities and also in Budapest, and lower among women in Madrid and Barcelona.

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, we report a consistent pattern of socioeconomic inequalities in mortality in 16 European cities. Future studies should further explore specific causes of death, in order to determine whether the general pattern observed is consistent for each cause of death.

Need, enabling, predisposing, and behavioral determinants of access to preventative care in Argentina: analysis of the national survey of risk factors

INTRODUCTION

Health care utilization is an important step to disease management, providing opportunities for prevention and treatment. Anderson's Health Behavior Model has defined utilization by need, predisposing, and enabling determinants. We hypothesize that need, predisposing, and enabling, highlighting behavioral factors are associated with utilization in Argentina.

METHODS

We performed a logistic regression analysis of the 2005 and 2009 Argentinean Survey of Risk Factors, a cohort of 41,392 and 34,732 individuals, to explore the association between need, enabling, predisposing, and behavioral factors to blood pressure measurement in the last year.

RESULTS

In the 2005 cohort, blood pressure measurement was associated with perception of health, insurance coverage, basic needs met, and income. Additionally, female sex, civil state, household type, older age groups, education, and alcohol use were associated with utilization. The 2009 cohort showed similar associations with only minor differences between the models.

CONCLUSIONS

We explored the association between utilization of clinical preventive services with need, enabling, predisposing, and behavioral factors. While predisposing and need determinants are associated with utilization, enabling factors such as insurance coverage provides an area for public intervention. These are important findings where policies should be focused to improve utilization of preventive services in Argentina.

[Self-rated health and social inequalities, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2005]

Self-rated health is a quality-of-life indicator. This study investigates the impact of individual-level and neighborhood-level socioeconomic characteristics, considered simultaneously, on the state of self-rated health at the individual level in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The study employs a two-level (individual and neighborhood) multilevel analysis, and the data sources were the 2005 Argentina National Risk Factor Survey (multistage probabilistic sample) and the 2001 Population Census. Linear regression shows that higher schooling and income, as well as occupational category, are related to better self-rated health, and increasing age with worse health. In the multilevel analysis, an increase in the proportion (per census tract) of individuals with less schooling was associated with an increase in the proportion of individuals with worse self-rated health. Improving the general health of the population requires strategies and action that reduce the levels of social inequalities in their multiple dimensions, including the individual and neighborhood levels.

Inequalities in mortality in small areas of eleven Spanish cities (the multicenter MEDEA project)

The objectives of this study are to identify inequalities in mortality among census tracts of 11 Spanish cities in the period 1996-2003 and to analyse the relationship between these geographical inequalities and socioeconomic deprivation. It is a cross-sectional ecological study where the units of analysis are census tracts. We obtained an index of socioeconomic deprivation and estimated SMR by each census tract using hierarchical Bayesian models which take into account the spatial structure. In the majority of the cities geographical patterns in total mortality were found in both sexes, which were similar to those for the index of socioeconomic deprivation. Among men, four specific causes of death (lung cancer, ischemic heart diseases, respiratory diseases and cirrhosis) were positively associated with deprivation in the majority of cities. Among women the specific causes diabetes and cirrhosis were positively associated, while lung cancer was negatively associated with deprivation. The excess of mortality related with deprivation was 59,445 deaths among men and 23,292 among women. These results highlight the importance of intra-urban inequalities in health.

Spatial variability in mortality inequalities, socioeconomic deprivation, and air pollution in small areas of the Barcelona Metropolitan Region, Spain

BACKGROUND

There is evidence that geographic variability of social health inequalities continues to exist even after individual risk factors have been taken into account. However, relatively few studies have examined the contribution of exposure to air pollutants to those inequalities.

OBJECTIVES

To study the geographic variability of inequalities in mortality and their associations with socioeconomic and environmental inequalities in small areas of the metropolitan of Barcelona during the period 1994 to 2003.

METHODS

As in the MEDEA Project, the small area unit was the census tract. Study population consisted of the residents of the metropolitan area of Barcelona. Response variables were all-cause and specific-cause standardized mortality ratio (SMR). Explanatory variables were deprivation index, summarizing socioeconomic variables of the census tracts, and estimates of air pollutant exposures. Bayesian hierarchical models were used in order to reduce the extra variability when using SMR and to assess associations between mortality and deprivation and air pollution.

RESULTS

Statistically significant associations with deprivation were found for the causes of death related to consumption of tobacco and alcohol for men and, besides lung cancer, diet-related causes for women. Statistically significant pollution coefficients were only found in the metropolitan area of Barcelona and in men. A positive interaction between pollutants and the deprivation index was statistically significant for respiratory mortality and PM(10), and ischemic disease mortality and NO(2), both for men.

CONCLUSIONS

We found deprivation to be associated in a statistically significant way with the geographical variation in mortality in the census tracts of the metropolitan area of Barcelona, in the period 1994 to 2003. Those air pollutants more directly related with traffic modify some of these associations.

International emergency medicine: a review of the literature from 2007

The subspecialty of international emergency medicine (IEM) continues to grow within the United States, just as the specialty of emergency medicine (EM) continues to spread to both developed and developing countries around the world. One of the greatest obstacles, however, faced by IEM researchers and practitioners alike, remains the lack of a high-quality, consolidated, and easily accessible evidence-base of literature. In response to this perceived need, members of the Emergency Medicine Resident Association (EMRA) International Emergency Medicine Committee, in conjunction with members of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) International Health Interest Group, have embarked on the task of creating a recurring review of IEM literature. This publication represents the third annual review, covering the top 30 IEM research articles published in 2007. Articles were selected for the review according to explicit, predetermined criteria that included both methodologic quality and perceived impact of the research. It is hoped that this annual review will act as a forum for disseminating best practices, while also stimulating further research in the field of IEM.

Provision and use of maternal health services among urban poor women in Kenya: what do we know and what can we do?

In sub-Saharan Africa, the unprecedented population growth that started in the second half of the twentieth century has evolved into unparalleled urbanization and an increasing proportion of urban dwellers living in slums and shanty towns, making it imperative to pay greater attention to the health problems of the urban poor. In particular, urgent efforts need to focus on maternal health. Despite the lack of reliable trend data on maternal mortality, some investigators now believe that progress in maternal health has been very slow in sub-Saharan Africa. This study uses a unique combination of health facility- and individual-level data collected in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya to: (1) describe the provision of obstetric care in the Nairobi informal settlements; (2) describe the patterns of antenatal and delivery care, notably in terms of timing, frequency, and quality of care; and (3) draw policy implications aimed at improving maternal health among the rapidly growing urban poor populations. It shows that the study area is deprived of public health services, a finding which supports the view that low-income urban residents in developing countries face significant obstacles in accessing health care. This study also shows that despite the high prevalence of antenatal care (ANC), the proportion of women who made the recommended number of visits or who initiated the visit in the first trimester of pregnancy remains low compared to Nairobi as a whole and, more importantly, compared to rural populations. Bivariate analyses show that household wealth, education, parity, and place of residence were closely associated with frequency and timing of ANC and with place of delivery. Finally, there is a strong linkage between use of antenatal care and place of delivery. The findings of this study call for urgent attention by Kenya's Ministry of Health and local authorities to the void of quality health services in poor urban communities and the need to provide focused and sustained health education geared towards promoting use of obstetric services.