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International Handbook of Adult Mortality pp 441–464Cite as

Health and Mortality Consequences of the Physical Environment

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Part of the book series: International Handbooks of Population ((IHOP,volume 2))

Abstract

The relationship between features of physical environments and health status has become a prominent focus of research on health and mortality. Recent innovation in theoretical approaches to the mechanisms linking environments with health, combined with more sophisticated methodological tools and data collection efforts, have spurred advances in the field of contextual effects research. Mounting interest in the origin of socioeconomic status (SES) and race/ethnic differences in health has also played an important role in directing attention to broader health-relevant characteristics of residential contexts as possible explanations for durable health disparities. This chapter reviews the current state of knowledge on the relationship between physical features of environments and adult mortality. We define the physical environment to include components of the built environment (including land use, housing, transportation, such amenities as food, activity options, and green space; and urban design and decline); climate and climate-related disasters; and air and water quality. Collectively, these aspects of the physical environment play a significant role in accounting for variability across space in patterns of adult mortality.

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Acknowledgment

We would like to thank Eileen Crimmins and Richard Rogers for their helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Christopher R. Browning

  2. University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65201, USA

    Eileen E.S. Bjornstrom (Assistant Professor of Sociology)

  3. University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    Kathleen A. Cagney (Associate Professor in the Departments of Health Studies, Sociology, and Comparative Human Development, and Director of the Population Research Center)

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  1. Christopher R. Browning
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  2. Eileen E.S. Bjornstrom
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  3. Kathleen A. Cagney
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Correspondence to Christopher R. Browning .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Sociology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Boulder, 80309-0327, Colorado, USA

    Richard G. Rogers

  2. Davis School of Gerontology, Andrus Gerontology Center, University of Southern California, McClintock Ave. 3715, Los Angeles, 90089-0191, California, USA

    Eileen M. Crimmins

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Browning, C.R., Bjornstrom, E.E., Cagney, K.A. (2011). Health and Mortality Consequences of the Physical Environment. In: Rogers, R., Crimmins, E. (eds) International Handbook of Adult Mortality. International Handbooks of Population, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9996-9_21

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