Neighborhood environment, self-rated health and quality of life in Latin America

Abstract

To conduct a systematic review examining the associations between neighborhood environments and self-rated health (SRH) and health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) in the urban context of Latin America. We conducted a structured search of quantitative studies in three bibliographic databases published in Spanish, English, Portuguese and French from January 1990 to December 2015. We restricted the search to studies conducted in Latin-American cities with one million and more inhabitants. Eleven studies were finally included in the analysis. Ten were cross-sectional studies and one was a cohort follow-up study. Two studies found positive associations between accessibility to parks and HR-QOL. One study found that high neighborhood social capital was positively associated with SRH. Neighborhood socioeconomic status was positively associated with both HR-QOL and SRH in two studies. A walkable neighborhood was positively associated with SRH in two studies. Three studies included attributes related with neighborhood security perception and road safety, with higher scores of HR-QOL, both in the physical and mental dimensions, while high levels of street noise were negatively associated. Narrowness and slope of streets were negatively associated with SRH. No association was found between the perception of neighborhood security and SRH. The results of this systematic review show that several studies conducted in Latin America have found significant associations between neighborhood environment and SRH and HRQOL. However, the relatively small number of studies and the heterogeneity among them require further studies to better understand this topic in the region.

Inconsistencies in the Dynamics of Sustainable Development Dimensions in Central and Eastern European Countries

“…(3) Regarding the healthy life component, the most common sense of analyzing this relation is from environment to it [94][95][96][97][98]. We observed the opposite direction of influence and found the fact that a good health status has a beneficial influence on environmental wellbeing -higher levels of health contributing to protecting more the environment.…”

“…In this context, it can be observed that the link between environment and individuals' state of health are intimately linked. The most common sense of analyzing the relationship between them is from the environment to health [94][95][96][97][98]. In our paper, we intend to observe the opposite sense, i.e.…”

Environmental Performance in EU Countries from the Perspective of Its Relation to Human and Economic Wellbeing

“…Human wellbeing is defined as formed by nine components (see Van de Kerk and Manuel [ 21 ], as well as Kowalski and Veit [ 50 ]), analyzed in the literature in relation to the environment, as follows: sufficient amount of food [ 51 , 52 , 53 ], sufficient to drink [ 54 , 55 , 56 ], safe sanitation [ 22 , 53 , 57 ], education [ 22 , 53 , 58 , 59 ], health [ 22 , 53 , 60 , 61 , 62 ], gender equality [ 21 , 23 , 63 , 64 ], income distribution [ 20 , 22 , 53 , 65 , 66 , 67 ], population growth [ 53 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 ], and good governance [ 22 , 53 , 59 , 72 , 73 , 74 ] (see Table 2 ). For example, it was demonstrated that (1) the lack of safe sanitation represents a pollutant factor, negatively influencing environmental wellbeing [ 22 , 57 ], (2) the level of individual education registers positive effects on pro-environmental attitudes [ 58 , 59 , 75 ], while the number of students enrolled in education may influence enviro...…”

Physical Disorders and Poor Self-Rated Health in Adults Living in Four Latin American Cities: A Multilevel Approach

“…Urban environment features may affect health through a multiplicity of processes including influencing health-related behaviors through features such as walkability, the location of parks and green spaces, and access to and advertising for different types of foods. Other•mechanisms may include community stressors such as violence or lack of safety and the availability of social connections and social support mechanisms [10][11][12][13][14][15][16].…”

“…A recent systematic review of the impact of urban environments on self-rated health in Latin America found few studies on this subject and suggested that heterogeneities among countries indicate the need for additional studies of the largest urban settings of the region [11]. We used survey data from a sample of adults residing in capitals of four large Latin American countries: Argentina (Buenos Aires), México (México City), Peru (Lima), Panamá (Panamá City), to investigate the association of perceived urban environment characteristics with self-rated health.…”