ArticleSSM - population health2019
The Moving to Health (M2H) approach to natural experiment research: A paradigm shift for studies on built environment and health.
Article in SSM - population health, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 20 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Associations Between the Built Environment and Adult Obesity and the Mediating Role of Physical Activity: A Systematic Review.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2025Pooled it
- The neighbourhood built environment and health-related fitness: a narrative systematic review.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2022Pooled it
- Mitigating the risk of bias exacerbation when controlling for unmeasured spatial confounding for binary exposures.American journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Weight Trajectories Among Youths Following Residential Relocation.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Residential mobility, neighborhood environment, and diabetes complications among socioeconomically disadvantaged patients in the United States.SSM - population health · 2025Article
- A good move for health?: Analyzing urban exposure trajectories of residential relocation and mental health in populations in Bradford.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2025Article
- Tailoring Exercise Prescription for Effective Diabetes Glucose Management.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2025Review
- Associations between Changes in Exposure to Air Pollutants due to Relocation and the Incidence of 14 Major Disease Categories and All-Cause Mortality: A Natural Experiment Study.Environmental health perspectives · 2024Article
- Neighborhood built and food environment in relation to glycemic control in people with type 2 diabetes in the moving to health study.Health & place · 2024Article
- The association between the food environment and adherence to healthy diet quality: the Maastricht Study.Public health nutrition · 2023Article
- The relationship between the built environment and respiratory health: Evidence from a longitudinal study in Indonesia.SSM - population health · 2022Article
- Associations between neighborhood built environment, residential property values, and adult BMI change: The Seattle Obesity Study III.SSM - population health · 2022Article
- Implementing a Rural Natural Experiment: A Protocol for Evaluating the Impacts of Food Coops on Food Consumption, Resident's Health and Community Vitality.Methods and protocols · 2022Article
- The Effects of Urban Neighborhood Environmental Evaluation and Health Service Facilities on Residents' Self-Rated Physical and Mental Health: A Comparative and Empirical Survey.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Differential associations of the built environment on weight gain by sex and race/ethnicity but not age.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2021Article
- Does the built environment have independent obesogenic power? Urban form and trajectories of weight gain.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2021Article
- Methods to Address Self-Selection and Reverse Causation in Studies of Neighborhood Environments and Brain Health.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Review
- Impact of Built Environments on Body Weight (the Moving to Health Study): Protocol for a Retrospective Longitudinal Observational Study.JMIR research protocols · 2020Article
- Evidence from big data in obesity research: international case studies.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2020Article
- Obesity and the Built Environment: A Reappraisal.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Improving the built environment (BE) is viewed as one strategy to improve community diets and health. The present goal is to review the literature on the effects of BE on health, highlight its limitations, and explore the growing use of natural experiments in BE research, such as the advent of new supermarkets, revitalized parks, or new transportation systems. Based on recent studies on movers, a paradigm shift in built-environment health research may be imminent. Following the classic Moving to Opportunity study in the US, the present Moving to Health (M2H) strategy takes advantage of the fact that changing residential location can entail overnight changes in multiple BE variables. The necessary conditions for applying the M2H strategy to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) databases and to large longitudinal cohorts are outlined below. Also outlined are significant limitations of this approach, including the use of electronic medical records in lieu of survey data. The key research question is whether documented changes in BE exposure can be linked to changes in health outcomes in a causal manner. The use of geo-localized clinical information from regional health care systems should permit new insights into the social and environmental determinants of health.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.