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The Built Environment and Child Health: An Overview of Current Evidence

Current Environmental Health Reports volume 3, pages 250–257 (2016)Cite this article

Abstract

Urbanization and the shaping of the built environment have provided a number of socioeconomic benefits, but they have also brought unwanted side effects on health. We aimed to review the current epidemiological evidence of the associations between the built environment, closely related exposures, and child health. We focused on growth and obesity, neuropsychological development, and respiratory and immune health. We used existing review articles and supplemented these with relevant work published and not included in existing reviews. The present review shows that there is good evidence for an association between air pollution and fetal growth restriction and respiratory health, whereas for other exposure and outcome combinations, further evidence is needed. Future studies should make efforts to integrate the different built environment features and to include the evaluation of environments other than home, as well as accessibility, qualitative and perception assessment of the built environment, and, if possible, with improved and standardized tools to facilitate comparability between studies. Efforts are also needed to conduct longitudinal and intervention studies and to understand potential mechanisms behind the associations observed. Finally, studies in low- and middle-income countries are needed.

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Affiliations

  1. ISGlobal, Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL), Barcelona, Spain

    Mireia Gascon, Martine Vrijheid & Mark J. Nieuwenhuijsen

  2. Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain

    Mireia Gascon, Martine Vrijheid & Mark J. Nieuwenhuijsen

  3. CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Barcelona, Spain

    Mireia Gascon, Martine Vrijheid & Mark J. Nieuwenhuijsen

  4. Parc de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona (PRBB), Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL), Doctor Aiguader, 88, 08003, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

    Mireia Gascon

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  1. Mireia Gascon
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Mireia Gascon, Martine Vrijheid, and Mark J. Nieuwenhuijsen declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Gascon, M., Vrijheid, M. & Nieuwenhuijsen, M.J. The Built Environment and Child Health: An Overview of Current Evidence. Curr Envir Health Rpt 3, 250–257 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-016-0094-z

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Keywords

  • Built environment
  • Physical activity
  • Child health
  • Transport planning
  • Urbanism