Using agent-based modelling to test hypotheses on the role of neighbourhood social mechanisms in the development of small-area health inequalities.

Background: Small-area health inequalities may originate from differentials in the spatial distribution of environmental stressors on health. The role played by neighbourhood social mechanisms on small-area health inequalities is difficult to evaluate. We demonstrate that agent-based modelling (ABM) is a useful technique to overcome existing limitations.

Does social cohesion mediate neighbourhood effects on mental and physical health? Longitudinal analysis using German Socio-Economic Panel data.

Background: Neighbourhood has risen as a relevant determinant of health. While there is substantial evidence that environmental factors affect health, far less evidence of the role of social mechanisms in the causal chain between neighbourhood characteristics and health is available.

Method: To evaluate the role of social cohesion as a mediator between four different neighbourhood characteristics and health using data from German Socio-Economic-Panel (SOEP), a longitudinal mediation analysis was performed.

Social Mechanisms in Epidemiological Publications on Small-Area Health Inequalities-A Scoping Review.

Small-area social mechanisms-social processes involving the social environment around the place of residence-may be playing a role in the production of health inequalities. Understanding how small-area health inequalities (social environment affects health and consequently contribute to inequalities between areas) are generated and the role of social mechanisms in this process may help defining interventions to reduce inequalities. In mediation and pathway analyses, social mechanisms need to be treated as processes or factors.

Do social factors and country of origin contribute towards explaining a "Latina paradox" among immigrant women giving birth in Germany?

Background: The "Latina paradox" describes the unexpected association between immigrant status, which is often correlated to low socioeconomic status, and low prevalence of unfavourable birth outcomes. Social (e.g.