By Brian Denitzio
News Editor

Dorchester neighborhoods are affected by some health maladies such as diabetes and childhood asthma with greater frequency than residents citywide according to a report released by the Boston Public Health Commission. Data from the same report also indicates that injuries as a result of violent crime are a growing problem that affects residents of Dorchester's neighborhoods at a significantly higher rate than residents of the city of Boston as a whole.

The findings of the report examining the health of Boston, done annually by the BPHC, were presented at a community meeting Tuesday night at the Codman Square Health Center. The report breaks Boston down into 15 neighborhoods, dividing Dorchester into "North" Dorchester and "South" Dorchester. The BPHC presents neighborhood-specific results to a handful of neighborhoods each year, and Tuesday night's meeting examined "South" Dorchester.

The report found that "South" Dorchester is one of only five neighborhoods in the city with an asthma hospitalization rate among children under five that is higher than the city average. According to the report, "asthma hospitalization rates were highest for "South" Dorchester's black children (12 asthma hospitalizations per 1,000 population) and Latino children (10/per 1,000)."

For the purposes of the presentation, "South" Dorchester was divided into two areas. A western area is defined as Codman Sq./South Franklin Field bordered roughly by Talbot Ave., Dorchester Ave., Morton St., and Blue Hill Ave. The eastern part is defined as Lower Mills/Neponset, and bordered by King St., Morrissey Blvd., Gallivan Blvd., and Dorchester Ave. The division made to help bring to light statistically relevant characteristics of the different communities in the neighborhood, according to Marty Downs, spokesperson for the BPHC.

"What we do usually is break down the whole city into neighborhoods and Dorchester is a very big neighborhood with a lot of different communities, so it was our best way of differentiating communities that look very different and have very different health characteristics," said Downs.

One area in which the two areas of South Dorchester diverged sharply is prostate cancer. The Lower Mills/Neponset area posted an age-adjusted prostate cancer mortality rate from 2001-2003 that was 22 percent lower than the Boston rate, with 25 deaths per 100,000 population. The rate in Codman Square/S. Franklin Field of 102 deaths per 100,000 population was 219 percent higher than the citywide rate. The report found that of the 15 prostate cancer deaths in the Codman Square area, 87 percent were black residents. Blacks generally have lower cancer survival rates than do whites, the report states. "This is believed to be due to a number of poverty-related factors such as access to health care, being diagnosed at a later stage of the disease, and disparities in treatment," the presentation states. Ten percent of "South" Dorchester residents have no health insurance, compared to seven percent citywide.

Another health concern cited by the report are injuries sustained as a result of violent crime. "South" Dorchester ranked fourth-highest in the city for non-fatal gunshot and stabbing injuries sustained by residents 15-44 between 2003 and 2005. The "South" Dorchester rate of 22 injuries per 100,000 population was 83 percent higher than that for Boston overall. With regard to homicides, the numbers point a similarly disproportionate distribution.

The population living in Codman Square/S. Franklin Field represents 5 percent of the city's total population, the neighborhood's 27 homicides between 1999 and 2003 represent 11 percent of the total homicides in Boston during that same period.

In addition to reporting the findings of the report, the presentation also presented attendees with resources and programming that can help them fight some of the health issues their neighborhood faces.