Associations between the urban neighbourhood built and social environment characteristics with physical functioning among mid- and older-aged adults: A systematic review

Abstract

There is growing recognition of the association between neighbourhood factors and individuals' health. This systematic review examines the associations between urban neighbourhood built and social environment characteristics with different measures of physical functioning among mid- and older-aged adults over 45 years, focusing on cross-sectional and longitudinal study designs. It responds to the increase in publications on this topic following the COVID-19 pandemic. The systematic review included 25 studies written in English from 2018 onwards sourced from 8 databases. Studies were imported into Covidence and reviewed following the ‘Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis’ (PRISMA) protocols. Findings were assessed according to 13 neighbourhood environment variables: aesthetics, crime safety, greenness and parks, land use mix and destinations, neighbourhood disadvantage, pedestrian/street infrastructure, public transport, residential density, social environment, street connectivity, traffic safety, walkability, and composite variables. Significant associations in the expected direction were found for land use mix and destinations, walkability, crime safety, greenness and parks, social environment, and neighbourhood disadvantage with physical functioning in mid- and older-aged adults. Weaker evidence of expected associations was found for residential density and aesthetics. Future research avenues on this topic include investigating built and social neighbourhood environments in diverse geographies and populations, considering housing status and length of exposure to the neighbourhood environment, using longitudinal surveys over longer time periods and objective measurements.