title: Neighborhood environments, mobility, and health: towards a new generation of studies in environmental health research.
abstract: While public policies seek to promote active transportation, there is a lack of information on the social and environmental factors associated with the adoption of active transportation modes. Moreover, despite the consensus on the importance of identifying obesogenic environmental factors, most published studies only take into account residential neighborhoods in the definition of exposures. There are at least three major reasons for incorporating daily mobility in public health research: (i) to identify specific population groups, including socially disadvantaged populations, who experience mobility or spatial accessibility deficits; (ii) to study the environmental determinants of transportation habits and investigate the complex relationships between transportation (as a source of physical activity, pollutants, and accidents) and physical activity and health; and (iii) to improve the assessment of spatial accessibility to resources and exposure to environmental hazards by accounting for daily trajectories for a better understanding of their health effects. There is urgent need to develop novel methods to better assess daily mobility. The RECORD Study relies on (i) an electronic survey of regular mobility to assess the chronic exposure to environmental conditions over a relatively long period, and (ii) Global Positioning System tracking to evaluate precisely acute environmental exposures over a much shorter period. The present article argues that future research should combine these two approaches. Gathering scientific evidence on the relationships between the environments, mobility/transportation, and health should allow public health and urban planning decision makers to better take into account the individual and environmental barriers to the adoption of active transportation and to define innovative intervention strategies addressing obesogenic environments to reduce disparities in excess weight.
authors.affiliation: Inserm, U707, faculté de médecine Saint-Antoine, 27, rue Chaligny, 75012 Paris, France. chaix@u707.jussieu.fr
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chaix
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Méline
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Duncan
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jardinier
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Perchoux
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vallée
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Merrien
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Karusisi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lewin
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brondeel
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kestens
mesh_terms: D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004782:Environmental Health / Q000379:methods*; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D006801:Humans; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D011157:Population Dynamics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011634:Public Health / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D064890:Social Determinants of Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014186:Transportation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Active transport; Environmental health; Exposure assessment; Santé environnementale; Transport actif; Évaluation des expositions