Urban Environment and Health: A Cross-Sectional Study of the Influence of Environmental Quality and Physical Activity on Blood Pressure

Abstract

Few studies have examined the relation between urban built environment and the prevalence of hypertension. This cross-sectional study aimed at assessing the relationship between the environmental quality, physical activity, and stress on hypertension among citizens of Kaunas city, Lithuania. We conducted a survey of 1086 citizens residing in 11 districts to determine their perceptions of environmental quality, health behavior, and health indices. The independent variables included residential traffic flows, access to public transportation and green spaces. Dependent variables included physician-diagnosed hypertension, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and stress level. We used multivariable logistic regression to assess the associations as odds ratios (OR). The environmental factors beneficially associated with meeting the physical activity recommendations were opportunities for walking to reach the city’s green spaces and available relaxation areas. Residents of high noise level districts aged 45–64 years had a significantly higher OR of stress and a higher prevalence of hypertension when age, sex, education status, family status, and smoking were accounted for. However, meeting the physical activity recommendations had a beneficial effect on the risk of hypertension. This study provided evidence that improvement of the district-level built environment supporting citizens’ physical activity might reduce the risk of hypertension.

Risk Factors for Coronary Heart Disease Among Lebanese Women: A Case–Control Study

“…Living in the capital Beirut (crowded urban area) compared to Mount-Lebanon (peri-urban area) was positively associated to CHD. Living in Beirut exposes participants to higher levels of stress, in part due to exposure to various environmental factors, traffic-related air pollutants, noise, higher levels of violence, and lower social support, consistent with previous national 8 , 9 and international 44 , 45 studies. Similarly, the lack of green spaces in an urban area can negatively affect a person’s well-being and PA. 46 Previous works revealed that women may be more vulnerable to urbanization in terms of CVRFs (hypertension, psychiatric disorders) than men.…”

Can Homes Affect Well-Being? A Scoping Review among Housing Conditions, Indoor Environmental Quality, and Mental Health Outcomes

“…In particular: n = 2 were excluded because they referred to undergraduate students in college dorms [ 49 ] and children in daycare centers [ 50 ]. Thus, they were not coherent with the residential settings; also, a study by Srinivasan and Ram [ 51 ] was excluded because it was preliminary research that still lacks any results ( n = 1); in addition, although it was related to the scope of the research, the study by Grazuleviciene et al [ 52 ] was highly focused on blood pressure ( n = 1); instead, Singh [ 53 ] did not consider any of the IEQ parameters nor any housing conditions ( n = 1); in conclusion, other studies [ 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 ] were excluded because the authors did not find the full texts ( n = 5). …”

“…in addition, although it was related to the scope of the research, the study by Grazuleviciene et al [ 52 ] was highly focused on blood pressure ( n = 1);…”

Environmentally related gender health risks: findings from citizen science cross-sectional study

“…A detailed description of the methods of the participants’ enrolment as well as the description of the collaborative study have been provided previously [ 53 , 54 ]. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki [ 55 ] and were approved by the Kaunas Regional Committee for Biomedical Research Ethics (BE-2-51.…”