Table 1.

Summary of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses on the Associations Between Neighborhoods and Health

Author	Review/Meta	Exposure definition	Outcome definition	Country	Participants	# of studies	Conclusion
Ding et al, 2011 (Ding et al., 2011)	Review	Environmental attributes	Physical activity	Global	Youth (3–18 years)	103	- The strongest correlates for children were walkability, traffic speed/volume, access/proximity to recreation facilities, land-use mix, and residential density. - The most supported correlates for adolescents were land-use mix and residential density. - Observed associations varied by the mode of measurement (perceived, objective or combination)
Foster & Giles-Corti, 2008 (Foster & Giles-Corti, 2008)	Review	Real and perceived neighborhood safety	Physical activity	Global	Adults	41	- Results are inconsistent because much of the research relies on inadequate conceptualization and operationalization of safety. Many neighborhood characteristics may not directly affect PA.
Koohsari, et al 2015 (Koohsari et al., 2015)	Review	Neighborhood environmental attributes: walkability-related, urban/regional, social/crime, aesthetics, destination-related, route-related	Sedentary behaviors	Global	Adults	17	- There is modest, but mixed evidence: 28% of the analyses found significant associations between neighborhoods environmental attributes with adults’ sedentary behaviors, whereas 56% found nonsignificant associations. - The most consistent association was for lower levels of sedentary behavior among residents of urban compared to regional areas.
Bancroft et al 2015 (Bancroft et al., 2015)	Review	Parks or trails	Objectively measured physical activity	USA	No restriction	20	- There is inconsistency even among studies with objectively measured physical activity: 5 out of 20 articles reported a significant positive association between parks and physical activity; 9 found no association; and 6 had mixed findings.
Owen et al 2004 (Owen et al., 2004)	Review	Objectively assessed and perceived environmental attributes	Walking	Global	No restriction	18	- Aesthetic attributes, convenience of facilities for walking (sidewalks, trails); accessibility of destinations (stores, park, beach); and perceptions about traffic and busy roads were found to be associated with walking for particular purposes.
Feng et al, 2010 (Feng et al., 2010)	Review	Built environment: physical activity environment; land use/transportation environment; food environment	Obesity	Global	No restriction	63	- Of the 22 contextual papers (defined place based on contextual effects derived from shared pre-determined administrative units) that have evaluated 80 relations, 38 relations did not achieve statistical significance. - Of the 15 buffer papers (defined place based on individually unique geographic buffers) that have evaluated 40 relations, 24 relations did not achieve statistical significance.
Corral et al, 2015 (Corral et al., 2015)	Review	Residential segregation	Overweight/obesity	USA	African American adults	11	- Only 4 of the 11 studies used valid measures of both segregation and overweight/obesity and also controlled for area-poverty. Though not without methodological limitations, those 4 studies suggested that segregation contributes to overweight and obesity among African American adults.
Black & Macinko 2006 (Black & Macinko, 2008)	Review	Neighborhood level factors	Obesity	Global	No restriction	37	- In 15 studies, neighborhood-level measures of economic resources were associated with obesity. Also, neighborhood features that discourage physical activity were consistently associated with increased body mass index. - Inconsistent results for neighborhood income inequality, racial composition, and availability of healthy food.
de Vet et al 2011 (de Vet et al., 2011)	Umbrella review	Environmental factors	Physical activity and dietary behaviors	Global	Children and adolescents	18 reviews (671 studies)	- Consistent evidence supporting the associations between school and neighborhood characteristics and physical activity, but not for dietary behaviors.
Safron et al, 2011 (Safron et al., 2011)	Umbrella review	Social and physical micro-environmental (neighborhood, school) characteristics	Diet, physical activity, and body weight	Global	Children and adolescents	8 reviews (132 studies)	- Stronger support for several neighborhood and school characteristics (e.g., community opportunities to exercise, lower costs of physical activity facilities, physical activity built environment, low crime level) and adolescent physical activity.
Kramer and Hogue, 2009 (Kramer & Hogue, 2009)	Review	Black-white residential segregation	Health outcomes	USA	African Americans	39	- The health effects of segregation are relatively consistent: isolation segregation is associated with poor pregnancy outcomes and increased mortality, but clustered segregation (black neighborhoods) seemed to have health-protective effects.
Papas et al., 2007 (Papas et al., 2007)	Review	Objective measure of the build environment	Overweight/obesity	USA, Australia, Europe	No restriction	20	-Most (17/20) studies reported associations between the built environment and BMI, though the direction of the association was mixed. Most (18/20) studies were cross-sectional. One of the two longitudinal studies found a negative association between produce prices and weight gain; the other (sprawl and BMI) was null.
Pickett and Pearl, 2001 (Pickett & Pearl, 2001)	Review	Local area social characteristics	Health outcomes	Developed countries	No restriction	25 ML studies	- Consistent evidence to support modest neighborhood effects on health.
Casagrande et al. 2009 (Casagrande et al., 2009)	Review	Built environment	Health behaviors	USA	African American adults	17	- Inconsistent relationships found between physical activity and light traffic, presence of sidewalks, and safety from crime. - Perceived barriers to physical activity were associated with obesity.
Yen et al 2009 (I. H. Yen et al., 2009)	Review	Objective and perceived neighborhood environment	Health outcomes	Global	Older adults	33	- Among different categories of neighborhood characteristics (socioeconomic composition, racial composition, demographics, perceived resources and/or problems, physical environment, and social environment), neighborhood level socioeconomic status was the strongest and most consistent predictor for elderly’s mortality and morbidity, self-reported health or quality of life, mental health, cognition, disability, and physical activity/body mass index.
Kim, 2008 (Kim, 2008)	Review	Neighborhood characteristics	Depression	Global	Adults	28	- In general, studies support for harmful effects of social disorder and, to a lesser extent, protective effects for neighborhood socioeconomic status.
Mair et al, 2008 (Mair et al., 2008)	Review	Neighborhood characteristics	Depression/depressive symptoms	Global	No restriction	45	- 37 studies reported associations of at least one neighborhood characteristic with depression/depressive symptoms. - The associations of depressive symptoms/depression with structural features (socioeconomic and racial composition, stability and built environment) were less consistent, smaller in number of studies, than with social processes (disorder, social interactions, violence).
Truong & Ma 2006 (Truong & Ma, 2006)	Review	Neighborhood characteristics	Mental health	Developed countries	Adults	29	- 27studies found statistically significant associations between mental health and at least one measure of neighborhood characteristics (sociodemographic characteristics, physical environment). Though the effect estimates attenuated after adjusting for individual-level characteristics, they still remained significant.
Christian et al, 2015 (Christian et al., 2015)	Review	Neighborhood built environment, green spaces, and the home outdoor area	Child health outcomes	Global	Children	32	- The presence of child relevant neighborhood destinations and services and parents’ perceptions of neighborhood safety were positively associated with general health and social-emotional development during early developmental periods.
Sellstrom & Bremberg 2006 (Sellstrom & Bremberg, 2006)	Review	Neighborhood context	Child health outcomes	High-income countries	Children and adolescent	13 ML studies	- Neighborhood socioeconomic status and social climate were shown to have small to moderate effects on birth weight, injuries, behavioral problems, and child maltreatment. - On average, 10% of variation in health outcomes was explained by neighborhood determinants, after controlling for important individual and family variables.
Vos et al 2014 (Vos et al., 2014)	Review and meta-analysis	Neighborhood deprivation	Birth outcomes	Global	Birth outcomes	24 in review; 7 in meta-analysis	- Living in a deprived neighborhood was consistently associated with increased odds for preterm delivery (OR: 1.23, 95% CI: 1.18–1.28), small-for-gestational age (OR: 1.31, 95% CI: 1.28–1.34), and stillbirth (OR: 1.33, 95% CI: 1.21–1.45).
Meijer et al, 2012 (Meijer et al., 2012)	Review and meta-analysis	Area-level socioeconomic status	All-cause mortality	Global	No restriction	40 in review; 18 in meta-analysis	- No clear evidence to support the associations for area-level income inequality or social capital and all-cause mortality. - There was a significantly higher risk of mortality for individuals living in neighborhoods with low socioeconomic status.
Jackson et al, 2014 (Jackson et al., 2014)	Review	Neighborhood environment	Alcohol use	Global	Adolescents	23	- The majority of studies found no associations with residential mobility, neighborhood disorder or crime, employment or job availability, neighborhood attitudes to drinking, social capital and collective efficacy. - There were mixed results in studies examining neighborhood-level socio-economic disadvantage and alcohol use.
Beyer et al, 2015 (Beyer et al., 2015)	Review	Neighborhood environment	Intimate partner violence	Global	Adults	36	- 30 studies reported a positive association between one or more neighborhood characteristics and intimate partner violence. This was true for majority of the 17 studies that adequately adjusted for individual and neighborhood variables.