Self-assessed health of elderly people in Brussels: does the built environment matter?

Claire Dujardin; Vincent Lorant; Isabelle Thomas

doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2014.01.003

Self-assessed health of elderly people in Brussels: does the built environment matter?

Health Place. 2014 May:27:59-67. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2014.01.003. Epub 2014 Jan 25.

Authors

Claire Dujardin¹, Vincent Lorant², Isabelle Thomas³

Affiliations

¹ CORE, Université catholique de Louvain, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; Institut Wallon d'Evaluation, de Prospective et de Statistiques (IWEPS), B-5001 Namur, Belgium. Electronic address: c.dujardin@iweps.be.
² Institute of Health and Society, Université catholique de Louvain, Clos Chapelle Aux Champs 30-b1.30.15.05, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: vincent.lorant@uclouvain.be.
³ CORE and FRS-FNRS, Université catholique de Louvain, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. Electronic address: isabelle.thomas@uclouvain.be.

PMID: 24531442
DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2014.01.003

Abstract

The living environment plays a key role in the "Aging in Place" strategy. We studied the influence of the built environment on the health status of elderly people living in Brussels. Using census and geo-coded data, we analysed whether built environment factors were associated with poor self-assessed health status and functional limitations of elderly residents (aged 65 and over). We concluded that evidence of such an association is weak and vulnerable to the composition of the neighbourhood.

Keywords: Built urban environment; Elderly; Functional limitation; GIS data; Subjective health.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Activities of Daily Living
Aged
Belgium / epidemiology
Environment Design* / statistics & numerical data
Female
Geographic Information Systems
Health Status*
Humans
Logistic Models
Male
Residence Characteristics / statistics & numerical data
Self Report
Socioeconomic Factors
Urban Population / statistics & numerical data