Lifestyles in suburban populations: A systematic review

BACKGROUND: Lifestyle and suburban population are important issues in the field of health. The living conditions of informal settlements can lead to acquisition of an unhealthy lifestyle. OBJECTIVE: This study has been designed to investigate the articles that have been published regarding lifestyle in suburban populations. METHODS: The present research was a systematic review of studies in databases including Iranmedex, Magiran, SID, Irandoc, PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct and Scopus, in 2017. All Persian and English papers written from 2000 to 2017 were evaluated by two reviewers using an advanced search of the databases with keywords related to lifestyles and suburban population. After completion of the search, the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) checklist was used to evaluate the articles. RESULTS: In total, 19 articles were found to have addressed the lifestyle in suburban populations. The results of these studies showed an unhealthy lifestyle in the most informal settlements. There was no food diversity. Malnutrition was common, especially overweight. The majority of the people did not have enough physical activity, and smoking and alcohol consumption were common, especially in men. CONCLUSION: Studies showed that suburban populations are among the groups that have unfavorable environmental conditions to acquiring healthy lifestyle and maintaining appropriate health. Therefore, developing infrastructure, improving health services (environment, treatment of diseases, reduction of malnutrition and infant mortality, access to safe drinking water and sanitation, improving waste disposal and recycling it), improving education and smoking prevention programs in improving lifestyle is recommended.