The influence mechanism of urban built environment on cardiovascular diseases

Abstract

Abstract Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a major public health concern, and their morbidity is influenced by various built environment elements. This paper aims to investigate the influence mechanisms of different built environment elements on CVDs, and to provide a theoretical foundation for health-oriented urban planning and CVD prevention. We selected the Xixiangtang built-up area of Nanning city as the case study area, and used the distribution data of CVDs and urban point of interests (POIs) as the main data sources. We applied spatial autocorrelation analysis, kernel density analysis, and geographic detector methods to examine the spatial correlation and influence of urban built environment elements on CVD samples. The results show that both the built environment elements and the CVD samples have a spatially clustered distribution, and there is a significant positive correlation between the distribution density of each environmental element and the CVD morbidity. Among the environmental elements, medical care has the largest influence on CVDs, followed by shopping consumption, catering and food, and transportation facilities, while parks and squares and the road network have relatively small influence.