Galea Sandro, Vlahov David
Center for Urban Epidemiologic Studies, New York Academy of Medicine, Columbia University, NY 10029, USA.
Annu Rev Public Health. 2005;26:341-65. doi: 10.1146/annurev.publhealth.26.021304.144708.
Urbanization is one of the most important demographic shifts worldwide during the past century and represents a substantial change from how most of the world's population has lived for the past several thousand years. The study of urban health considers how characteristics of the urban environment may affect population health. This paper reviews the empirical research assessing urban living's impact on population health and our rationale for considering the study of urban health as a distinct field of inquiry. The key factors affecting health in cities can be considered within three broad themes: the physical environment, the social environment, and access to health and social services. The methodologic and conceptual challenges facing the study of urban health, arising both from the limitations of the research to date and from the complexities inherent in assessing the relations among complex urban systems, disease causation, and health are discussed.
城市化是过去一个世纪全球最重要的人口结构变化之一，与世界上大多数人口在过去几千年的生活方式相比有了实质性改变。城市健康研究关注城市环境特征如何影响人口健康。本文回顾了评估城市生活对人口健康影响的实证研究，以及我们将城市健康研究视为一个独特研究领域的理由。影响城市健康的关键因素可归为三大主题：物理环境、社会环境以及获得健康和社会服务的机会。本文还讨论了城市健康研究面临的方法学和概念性挑战，这些挑战既源于现有研究的局限性，也源于评估复杂城市系统、疾病成因和健康之间关系时固有的复杂性。
