Built Environment and Self-Rated Health: Comparing Young, Middle-Aged, and Older People in Chengdu, China
Item
-
Title
-
Built Environment and Self-Rated Health: Comparing Young, Middle-Aged, and Older People in Chengdu, China
-
Description
-
Objectives: This article explores how the building-scale built environment is associated with self-rated health, examining differences in this association among younger, middle-aged, and older age groups. Features examined included building type, building condition, and sidewalk presence in front of dwellings.
Background: Understanding how the relationships between built environments and health vary across age groups helps to build a healthy environment for all. However, most studies have concentrated on the neighborhood or indoor environment, rather than whole buildings, and few have compared age groups.
Methods: This study analyzed survey data from 1,019 adults living in 40 neighborhoods in Chengdu, China, recruited through a clustered random sampling approach. It used a Bayesian logistic mixed-effects model with interaction terms between age-group indicators and other variables.
Results: Significant differences exist in the relationships of self-rated health with some environmental and other indicators among age groups. For older people, living in multi-floor buildings, having a household smoker, and undertaking fewer hours of weekly exercise were associated with lower odds of reporting good, very good, or excellent health. These relationships were not identified among middle-aged and younger people. More education was associated with higher odds of reporting better health among older and middle-aged groups.
Conclusions: Older people experience more health-related challenges compared to middle-aged and younger people. However, among the examined built environment factors, building type was the only significant factor related to self-rated health among older people. To promote health among older people, this study recommends adding elevators in the multi-floor buildings.
-
Accepted Manuscript
-
Creator
-
Lyu, Yingying
-
Forsyth, Ann
-
Worthington, Steven
-
Date
-
2022-03-03T16:40:45Z
-
2021-01-05
-
2022-03-03T16:40:45Z
-
Type
-
Journal Article
-
Format
-
application/pdf
-
Identifier
-
Lyu, Yingying, Ann Forsyth, Steven Worthington. "Built Environment and Self-Rated Health: Comparing Young, Middle-Aged, and Older People in Chengdu, China." HERD 14, no. 3 (2021): 229-246. DOI: 10.1177/1937586720982566
-
1937-5867
-
2167-5112
-
https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37370936
-
10.1177/1937586720982566
-
Source
-
HERD
-
Language
-
en_US
-
Relation
-
HERD