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Updated: Jun 15, 2026
11:21
Methodology for Establishing a Community-Wide Life Laboratory for Capturing Unobtrusive and Continuous Remote Activity and Health Data
Published on: July 27, 2018
Neighborhoods and health
Ana V Diez Roux1, Christina Mair
1Epidemiology, Center for Integrative Approaches to Health Disparities, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48019-2029, USA. adiezrou@umich.edu
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
|March 6, 2010
Summary
Neighborhood environments significantly impact health, potentially worsening health disparities. This review covers research on chronic diseases and mental health, highlighting challenges and future directions in neighborhood health effects.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Health
- Social Epidemiology
- Public Health
Background:
- Neighborhood characteristics influence health outcomes.
- Residential environments contribute to health inequalities.
- Research on neighborhood health effects has rapidly expanded.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review key research on neighborhood health effects.
- To focus on chronic disease (obesity) and mental health (depression).
- To classify empirical work into distinct research eras.
Main Methods:
- Categorization of studies into two eras: census proxies and direct measurement.
- Review of conceptual and methodological challenges.
- Identification of knowledge gaps and future research avenues.
Main Results:
- Neighborhood features demonstrably affect health.
- Studies have evolved from using census proxies to direct attribute measurement.
- Significant challenges exist in neighborhood health research methodology.
Conclusions:
- Neighborhood environments are critical determinants of health.
- Understanding these effects is vital for addressing health disparities.
- Future research should focus on overcoming methodological hurdles and exploring new directions.
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