No Association of Neighbourhood Volunteerism With Mortality in New Zealand: a National Multilevel Cohort Study

This study tests the association of neighbourhood-level volunteerism with mortality. A cohort study of 1996 New Zealand census respondents aged 25-74 years was conducted using multilevel Poisson regression analyses. Neighbourhood measures included indices of social capital & deprivation. Adjusting for just age & marital status, the mortality rate ratios for people living in the quintile of neighbourhoods with the lowest compared to the highest volunteerism were 1.16 & 1.09 for males & females, respectively. There was no significant association with any cause of death, including suicide. Future research should examine other factors such as social fragmentation & other outcomes such as behaviours. (37 refs.)