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Environmental Quality Perceptions and Health: A Cross-Sectional Study of Citizens of Kaunas, Lithuania

The perception of urban environmental quality is an important contributor when identifying local problems in sustainable development and environmental planning policy. This study examined the associations between environmental and social residential characteristics, physical activity, obesity, and h...

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Autores principales: Gražulevičienė, Regina, Andrušaitytė, Sandra, Dėdelė, Audrius, Gražulevičius, Tomas, Valius, Leonas, Kapustinskienė, Violeta, Bendokienė, Inga
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7344676/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32575545
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17124420
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author Gražulevičienė, Regina
Andrušaitytė, Sandra
Dėdelė, Audrius
Gražulevičius, Tomas
Valius, Leonas
Kapustinskienė, Violeta
Bendokienė, Inga
author_facet Gražulevičienė, Regina
Andrušaitytė, Sandra
Dėdelė, Audrius
Gražulevičius, Tomas
Valius, Leonas
Kapustinskienė, Violeta
Bendokienė, Inga
author_sort Gražulevičienė, Regina
collection PubMed
description The perception of urban environmental quality is an important contributor when identifying local problems in sustainable development and environmental planning policy. This study examined the associations between environmental and social residential characteristics, physical activity, obesity, and hypertension in Kaunas city, Lithuania. This cross-sectional study analyzed 580 citizens’ demographic-, socioeconomic-, health-, and lifestyle-related factors, environmental health concerns, and environmental quality perceptions. Using Geographic Information Systems and the multivariate logistic regression, we found that the less physically active group more often presented lower than mean ratings of the quality of pathways and cycling routes (32.9% and 45.6%, p = 0.042) and only irregularly visited the natural environment. Obese participants presented poorer ratings of air pollution, the quality of pathways and cycling routes, their possibility to reach green spaces by walking, and the available relaxing areas. The environmental issues associated with hypertension were poor possibilities to reach green spaces by walking (OR 1.94, 95% CI 1.14–3.32) and the availability of relaxation areas (OR 2.30, 95% 1.34–3.95). The quality of the neighborhood and individual-level characteristics were the factors that influenced a higher prevalence of health problems at the district level. Our findings suggest that a public health policy to improve the physical and social environment of the neighborhood would have a potential to increase citizens’ physical activity and health.
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spelling pubmed-73446762020-07-09 Environmental Quality Perceptions and Health: A Cross-Sectional Study of Citizens of Kaunas, Lithuania Gražulevičienė, Regina Andrušaitytė, Sandra Dėdelė, Audrius Gražulevičius, Tomas Valius, Leonas Kapustinskienė, Violeta Bendokienė, Inga Int J Environ Res Public Health Article The perception of urban environmental quality is an important contributor when identifying local problems in sustainable development and environmental planning policy. This study examined the associations between environmental and social residential characteristics, physical activity, obesity, and hypertension in Kaunas city, Lithuania. This cross-sectional study analyzed 580 citizens’ demographic-, socioeconomic-, health-, and lifestyle-related factors, environmental health concerns, and environmental quality perceptions. Using Geographic Information Systems and the multivariate logistic regression, we found that the less physically active group more often presented lower than mean ratings of the quality of pathways and cycling routes (32.9% and 45.6%, p = 0.042) and only irregularly visited the natural environment. Obese participants presented poorer ratings of air pollution, the quality of pathways and cycling routes, their possibility to reach green spaces by walking, and the available relaxing areas. The environmental issues associated with hypertension were poor possibilities to reach green spaces by walking (OR 1.94, 95% CI 1.14–3.32) and the availability of relaxation areas (OR 2.30, 95% 1.34–3.95). The quality of the neighborhood and individual-level characteristics were the factors that influenced a higher prevalence of health problems at the district level. Our findings suggest that a public health policy to improve the physical and social environment of the neighborhood would have a potential to increase citizens’ physical activity and health. MDPI 2020-06-19 2020-06 /pmc/articles/PMC7344676/ /pubmed/32575545 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17124420 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Gražulevičienė, Regina
Andrušaitytė, Sandra
Dėdelė, Audrius
Gražulevičius, Tomas
Valius, Leonas
Kapustinskienė, Violeta
Bendokienė, Inga
Environmental Quality Perceptions and Health: A Cross-Sectional Study of Citizens of Kaunas, Lithuania
title Environmental Quality Perceptions and Health: A Cross-Sectional Study of Citizens of Kaunas, Lithuania
title_full Environmental Quality Perceptions and Health: A Cross-Sectional Study of Citizens of Kaunas, Lithuania
title_fullStr Environmental Quality Perceptions and Health: A Cross-Sectional Study of Citizens of Kaunas, Lithuania
title_full_unstemmed Environmental Quality Perceptions and Health: A Cross-Sectional Study of Citizens of Kaunas, Lithuania
title_short Environmental Quality Perceptions and Health: A Cross-Sectional Study of Citizens of Kaunas, Lithuania
title_sort environmental quality perceptions and health: a cross-sectional study of citizens of kaunas, lithuania
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7344676/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32575545
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17124420
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