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The Built Environment and Human Health: An Initial ‘Sight’ at the Local Status

The Built Environment and Human Health: An Initial ‘Sight’ at the Local Status. Max A. Zarate, Ph.D. East Carolina University The 3rd Annual Jean Mills Health Symposium: Making Research Real in Reducing Health Disparities and Transforming Health Services February 9, 2007. OUTLINE.

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The Built Environment and Human Health: An Initial ‘Sight’ at the Local Status

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  1. The Built Environment and Human Health: An Initial ‘Sight’ at the Local Status Max A. Zarate, Ph.D. East Carolina University The 3rd Annual Jean Mills Health Symposium: Making Research Real in Reducing Health Disparities and Transforming Health Services February 9, 2007

  2. OUTLINE • The built environment • Influences on physical activity • North Carolina and Pitt County health statistics • Health statistics and the built environment

  3. THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT • Types of environments that affect human health • Natural –water, air, soil  food • Built–indoor (buildings) and outdoor (roads, parks, walking & biking paths, shopping centers/malls, etc) • Social –SES, schools, jobs, churches, etc

  4. THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT (cont’d) • Indoor: trend  improved design, operation, and environmental quality of buildings • Base: linking people’s use of space to physical measurements of indoor environmental quality • Technology: making buildings more environmentally friendly, productive to live/work in, and economically to operate

  5. THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT (cont’d) • Outdoor: interest of urban planning in human behavior  urban design and transportation planning • Theoretical, empirical, and practical work aimed at the following public health goals: • Enhancement to quality of life • Improvement in system efficiency • Reductions in environmental impacts

  6. THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT (cont’d)

  7. THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT (cont’d)

  8. INFLUENCES ON PHYSICAL ACTIVITY A range of theories and models has been used to specify variables believed to influence physical activity (PA) and other human behaviors. Researchers test hypotheses by assessing: • Associations that help to “understand and predict” behaviors • Interventions that are designed to modify the influences believed to lead to behavior change

  9. INFLUENCES ON PHYSICAL ACTIVITY (cont’d) • The logic of causality: defining correlates and determinants There are few examples of absolute causal factors that “cause” the outcome in 100% of cases, but none in the behavioral realm Correlates: reproducible associations or predictive relationships Determinants: causal factors (variations in these factors are followed systematically by variations in PA behavior)

  10. INFLUENCES ON PHYSICAL ACTIVITY (cont’d) • The logic of causality (cont’d) What causes coronary heart disease (CHD)? Probable causal variables include: physical inactivity, high cholesterol levels, tobacco use, and genetic factors This group of factors may contribute to micro-physiologic changes (e.g. PA may reduce CHD risk through improvements in cardiac endothelial cell function, collateral circulatory changes, or through improved oxygen uptake)

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