Article Text
PDF
Abstract
Introduction Few studies exist examining the long-term effects of urban renewal programmes on health. The purpose of this study is to examine the long-term effects of an urban renewal programme on the health and health inequality outcomes of residents living in the neighbourhoods intervened in Barcelona city by the Neighbourhoods Law (NL), while comparing them to a comparison group of non-intervention neighbourhoods with similar socioeconomic status.
Methods The Barcelona Health Survey was used for studying changes in self-rated health, mental health, hypertension and meeting walking requirements set by the WHO in pre (2006) and post (2016) years of neighbourhoods intervened by the NL and a group of comparison neighbourhoods with similar socioeconomic characteristics. We used logistic regression models to examine pre–post differences in health outcomes within intervention or comparison neighbourhoods. A difference-in-difference regression was used to assess the overtime impact of the NL intervention on the health outcomes compared with the comparison groups. All models were adjusted by the highest education level attained and age.
Results In the intervention neighbourhoods, self-rated health improved for manual workers, hypertension dropped in men and more women met the walking requirements compared with similar groups in the comparison neighbourhoods. Across all groups, mental health worsened.
Conclusions Our study is among the first to examine the long-term effects of urban renewal programmes. Although there exist complexities in studying these long-term effects, they are critical to ensure urban renewal programmes continue to improve health and reduce inequality among residents.
- MENTAL HEALTH
- BLOOD PRESSURE
- ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
- Health inequalities
- SOCIAL CLASS
Data availability statement
Data are available upon reasonable request. Not applicable.
Statistics from Altmetric.com
Data availability statement
Data are available upon reasonable request. Not applicable.
Footnotes
X @rmehdipa, @catherineprz1
Contributors All authors (RM, KP, LP, GB, JH and CB) contributed to the conceptualisation, methodology, writing and editing of the manuscript. RM and GB completed the analysis and visualisation and JH, CB, KP and LP helped with the interpretation. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript. RM is the guarantor.
Funding This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health R03MD012327.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.
Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.