Children In ‘Low Opportunity’ Neighborhoods Were 33% More Likely To Have 4+ Annual Emergency Visits

Children living in the lowest opportunity neighborhoods of San Francisco were 33% more likely to have four or more acute care visits within a year compared to children living in the highest opportunity neighborhoods of the city. Opportunity was measured using the Child Opportunity Index, a new multidimensional measure of neighborhood context that incorporates indicators for characteristics that support or inhibit child development, such as school wealth or poverty, exposure to toxic waste, adult education levels, and proximity to parks. Children in the lowest opportunity neighborhoods were about 14% less likely to make injury-related visits than children in high . . .