title: Neighborhoods and health.
abstract: Features of neighborhoods or residential environments may affect health and contribute to social and race/ethnic inequalities in health. The study of neighborhood health effects has grown exponentially over the past 15 years. This chapter summarizes key work in this area with a particular focus on chronic disease outcomes (specifically obesity and related risk factors) and mental health (specifically depression and depressive symptoms). Empirical work is classified into two main eras: studies that use census proxies and studies that directly measure neighborhood attributes using a variety of approaches. Key conceptual and methodological challenges in studying neighborhood health effects are reviewed. Existing gaps in knowledge and promising new directions in the field are highlighted.
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology, Center for Integrative Approaches to Health Disparities, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48019-2029, USA. adiezrou@umich.edu
authors.forename: Ana V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Diez Roux
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mair
mesh_terms: D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008603:Mental Health; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012307:Risk Factors; D012931:Social Environment