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Districts that are not good for the heart
[mis à jour le 22 February 2007 à 14h23]
Living in a disadvantaged district can harm cardiovascular health. This has been confirmed by an American –Swedish team based on a study conducted in Sweden on 3.7 million people. In other words, almost one-third of the country’s population!
“This is one of the most extensive studies carried out which highlights the harmful role that our immediate environment can play in terms of the risk of a stroke or heart attack”, explains one of the authors, Marylin Winkleby, from Stanford University in California.
In disadvantaged districts, marked in particular by a high level of unemployment and modest incomes, the risk of a stroke is between 1.6 and 1.9 times higher than in “wealthier” areas. The authors point to the difficulty in having access to green spaces and hence of engaging in physical activity, as well as the low number of shops nearby “selling fresh products”. These disadvantaged areas are, however, well-equipped with fast-food joints. The authors go on to refer to previous studies in this domain: “the more fast-food restaurants there are in a district, the higher the rate of obesity there”, which remains to be proven…
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