The
American Journal of Health Promotion and
the American Journal of Public Health
NEW
STUDY FINDS LINKS BETWEEN COMMUNITY DESIGN AND WEIGHT, PHYSICAL
ACTIVITY AND HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE Two Major
Health Journals Present Special Issues Examining
Impact of Built Environment on Health
WASHINGTON, D.C. | People who live in more sprawling
areas generally weigh more and are more likely to have high blood
pressure, according to a national study released today. The study
is the first to link obesity directly to the built environment.
It appears in the September edition of the peer-reviewed American
Journal of Health Promotion. The American Journal of
Health Promotion and the American Journal of Public Health
are devoting their September issues to an unprecedented
examination of how community design affects health.
"Researchers are finding that sprawl and community design
have a direct impact on our health," says Michael Greenberg,
PhD, associate editor of the American Journal of Public Health
and associate dean of the faculty, Edward J. Bloustein School
of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University. "These
journals present further evidence that we need to strengthen the
linkages between planning, design and public health."
For the study, Relationship Between Urban Sprawl and Physical
Activity, Obesity, and Morbidity, researchers used Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention data to look at health characteristics
of more than 200,000 individuals living in 448 U.S. counties in
major metropolitan areas. The researchers assessed the degree
of sprawl in each county using US Census and other federal data.
Sprawl development results in spread-out communities where homes
are far from shops, restaurants, or any other destination.
The study shows that, as sprawl increases, so do the chances that
residents will be obese or have high blood pressure. People living
in the most sprawling counties are likely to weigh six pounds
more than people in the most compact county, and are more likely
to be obese.
The study also finds that people in sprawling areas walk less.
This may indicate that people in more sprawling areas have fewer
chances to stay fit through routine physical activity. Distance,
lack of sidewalks and other barriers keep them from walking to
the store or other destinations. The study controlled for factors
such as age, gender, education level, and smoking.
“This study found that as the degree of sprawl increased,
so did the odds of being obese or having high blood pressure,”
says Reid Ewing, PhD, lead author of the study and University
of Maryland professor. If future research points in the same direction,
curbing urban sprawl in favor of compact, walkable communities
will become an important strategy for curbing waistline sprawl.
The special issues of the American Journal of Health Promotion
and the American Journal of Public Health released today
constitute a thorough review of the most up-to-date research on
the relationship between community design and health.
“Our primary call to action is that we create communities
that encourage and support health promoting behavior,” says
Richard Killingsworth, MPH, guest editor of the American Journal
of Health Promotion and director of Active Living by Design,
a program administered by the University of North Carolina.
Among the studies in the American Journal of Health Promotion:
Neighborhood Environment, Access to Places for Activity, and Leisure-time
Physical Activity in a Diverse North Carolina Population: Researchers
surveyed adults in six North Carolina counties to measure the
association between environmental factors and leisure time physical
activity. The results of the survey indicate that people with
access to trails and places to exercise were more likely to engage
in recommended levels of physical activity.
Integrating Public Health Objectives in Transportation Decision-Making:
The paper explores how transportation decision-making can better
support public health objectives, including reduced crashes and
pollution emissions, and more physical activity. Conventional
transportation planning tends to overlook the negative health
impacts of increased motor vehicle travel and the potential health
benefits from shifts to alternative modes of transportation.
“Land use and transportation policies, while not often associated
with the health sector, may nonetheless have important impacts
on the health of communities,” says Mary Northridge, PhD,
MPH, editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Public Health.
“More research is needed to better understand how these
impacts are distributed among different groups in our society,
and how we can better plan our communities to protect and promote
the health of all.”
Among the studies in the American Journal of Public Health:
Promoting Safe Walking and Cycling to Improve Public Health -
Lessons from The Netherlands and Germany: Researchers found that
American pedestrians and cyclists were much more likely to be
killed or injured than were Dutch and German pedestrians and cyclists,
both on a per-trip and on a per-kilometer basis. By comparing
U.S. statistics and policies to similar statistics and policies
in The Netherlands and Germany, the authors conclude that a wide
range of measures are available to improve the safety of walking
and cycling in American cities, thus reducing fatalities and injuries
and encouraging walking and cycling.
Conventional Development Versus Managed Growth – The Costs
of Sprawl: Researchers found that sprawl, the dominant form of
growth occurring in major U.S. metropolitan areas, comes at significant
cost to human and natural resources. Sprawl (conventional development)
produces a 21 percent increase in amount of land developed†and
approximately a 10 percent increase in local road lane-miles when
compared with smart growth (managed development). Furthermore,
sprawl causes about 10 percent more annual public service†deficits
and 8 percent higher housing occupancy costs. The authors conclude
that managed growth can save significant resources with limited
effects on traditional development procedures.
Reestablishing Public Health and Land Use Planning to Protect
Public Water Supplies: Improved land use, design and engineering
practices would substantially reduce contamination of major public
water supplies according to this new study. Researchers found
that high-density per-acre development and engineering controls,
along with housing and light commercial activity near main railroads,
would substantially reduce runoff.
“We've
always known that the environment, including the built environment,
affects health, but it is important to know how; that is why the
work we are presenting today is so important,” says Richard
Jackson, MD, MPH, special advisor to the director of the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The built environment is our most important habitat,”
notes Allen Dearry, PhD, associate director of the National Institute
of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health.
“It plays a significant role in chronic health conditions
such as obesity, asthma, and cardiovascular disease. Communities,
biomedical scientists, planners, policy makers, and others need
to identify the mechanisms by which the built environment impacts
health and develop appropriate interventions to reduce or eliminate
its harmful effects.”
Access to the full study Relationship Between Urban Sprawl
and Physical Activity, Obesity and Morbidity and a supplementary
report exploring its implications are available at www.smartgrowthamerica.org.
The report and other studies from the special issue of the American
Journal of Health Promotion are available at www.healthpromotionjournal.com.
Studies from the special issue of the American Journal of Public
Health are available at www.ajph.org.
The Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation supported the study Relationship Between
Urban Sprawl and Physical Activity, Obesity and Morbidity,
as well as the joint release of the two journals.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, based in Princeton, NJ, is
the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health
and health care. It concentrates its grantmaking in four goal
areas: to assure that all Americans have access to quality health
care at reasonable cost; to improve the quality of care and support
for people with chronic health conditions; to promote healthy
communities and lifestyles; and to reduce the personal, social
and economic harm caused by substance abuse - tobacco, alcohol
and illicit drugs. More information on RWJF can be found at www.rwjf.org.
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