Research directory

Heart Disease Tradeoffs: The Built Environment, Air Pollution, and Activity

Environmental Health Perspectives; 120 (2);

Aim: In many areas urban planners have begun to incorporate physical activity considerations into neighborhood design. But simply designing cities that encourage people to be more physically active may not go far enough to protect the population from heart disease, according to a study that compares the relative risks of inactivity and air pollution exposure within a large metropolitan population [EHP 120(2):247-253; Hankey et al.]. The new work is one of a small but growing number of studies to compare the health impacts of exercise and air pollution.
Conclusion: The authors conclude that efforts to design healthy neighborhoods should account for both air pollution and physical inactivity, rather than addressing each one in isolation.