Neighborhood and Health

Abstract

IntroductionPhysical activity is important for a healthy lifestyle and for example parks can provide opportunities for physical activity for both children and adults in their neighborhood (1). A study in 20 neighborhood parks in Durham, North Carolina with 2,712 children and adolescents showed that the type of activity area and presence of other active children were positively associated with physical activity, while the presence of a parent was negatively associated (1). Results showed that physical activity of girls was more strongly affected by social effects (like other active children) whereas physical activity of boys was more strongly influenced by the availability of park facilities (1).A study from Finland of 37,699 adults looked at childhood adverse psychosocial factors and adult neighborhood disadvantage to understand if there was a link to increased cardiovascular disease (2). They found that combined exposure to high childhood adversity and high adult disadvantage was associated with cardiovascular disease risk factors (hypertension, dyslipidaemia, diabetes, obesity, smoking, heavy alcohol use and physical inactivity), while exposure to high childhood adversity or high adult neighborhood disadvantage alone was not significantly associated with cardiovascular disease (2).Another study with 1,842 adults from Brazil looked at the local retail food environment and consumption of fruits and vegetables and sugar-sweetened beverages (3). They found that availability in neighbourhoods was associated with regular fruits and vegetables consumption, but regular fruits and vegetables consumption prevalence was significantly lower among lower-income individuals living in neighbourhoods with fewer supermarkets and fresh produce markets. A greater variety of sugar-sweetened beverages was associated with a 15 % increase in regular SSB consumption.A recent (4) study used data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), which involved more than 6,000 men and women from six communities in the United States (New York, Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, Twin Cities and Winston Salem) to look at how neighborhood environments may influence the risk for developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). They wanted to investigate long-term exposures to neighborhood physical and social environments, availability of healthy food and physical activity resources and levels of social cohesion and safety in relationship to T2DM. During a follow-up period of about ten years of adults aged 45-84 years at baseline 616 out of 5,124 participants (12.0%) developed T2DM and the study found a lower risk for developing T2DM associated with greater cumulative exposure to indicators of neighborhood healthy food and physical activity resources (4).The studies above are just examples of recent research interest into the interrelation between neighborhood and the effects on health (5). …