title: The place where you live and self-rated health in a large urban area.
abstract: The aim of this study was to determine and quantify the association between one's perception of the place of residence and self-rated health. 4,048 adult residents of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, participated in the study in 2008 and 2009. Ordinal logistic regression was used to estimate the magnitude of the association. Health was rated as good or very good, fair, or poor or very poor by 65.7%, 27.8%, and 6.5% of the subjects, respectively. Better self-rated health was associated with the following neighborhood characteristics: positive evaluation of aesthetics and mobility, better quality of public services, less physical and social disorder. The perception of violence had a borderline statistically significant association with worse self-rated health. These associations persisted after controlling for potential confounding demographic, socioeconomic, health, and health behavior variables. The results indicate that public and health policies should incorporate interventions that address the physical and social environment in addition to policies focused on individuals.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Pesquisas René Rachou, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Belo Horizonte, Brasil.
authors.forename: Daiana Elias
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ciências Exatas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brasil.
authors.forename: Cibele Comini
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: César
authors.affiliation: Faculdade da Saúde e Ecologia Humana, Vespasiano, Minas Gerais, Brasil.
authors.forename: César Coelho
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Xavier
authors.affiliation: Observatório de Saúde Urbana de Belo Horizonte, Belo Horizonte, Brasil.
authors.forename: Waleska Teixeira
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Caiaffa
authors.affiliation: Centro de Pesquisas René Rachou, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Belo Horizonte, Brasil.
authors.forename: Fernando Augusto
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Proietti
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001938:Brazil; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D057566:Self Report; D012931:Social Environment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013028:Space Perception; D014504:Urban Health; D014505:Urban Population