ArticleJournal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine2023
Associations Between Built Environment Factors and SARS-CoV-2 Infections at the Neighbourhood Level in a Metropolitan Area in Germany.
Article in Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The influence of weather and urban environment characteristics on upper respiratory tract infections: a systematic review.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- Exploring the Nexus Between Wider Housing Inequalities and Health: Evidence Mapping and Bibliometric Network Analysis.Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · 2026Review
- [Geography and health-the example of the COVID-19 pandemic in Bremen].Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz · 2025Article
- Pathogenic built environment? Reflections on modeling spatial determinants of health in urban settings considering the example of COVID-19 studies.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Neighbourhood Walkability and Physical Activity during the COVID-19 Pandemic.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Church Closings Were Associated with Higher COVID-19 Infection Rates: Implications for Community Health Equity.Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · 2023Article
- Exploring the Spatial Relative Risk of COVID-19 in Berlin-Neukölln.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
COVID-19-related health outcomes displayed distinct geographical patterns within countries. The transmission of SARS-CoV-2 requires close spatial proximity of people, which can be influenced by the built environment. Only few studies have analysed SARS-CoV-2 infections related to the built environment within urban areas at a high spatial resolution. This study examined the association between built environment factors and SARS-CoV-2 infections in a metropolitan area in Germany. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections of 7866 citizens of Essen between March 2020 and May 2021 were analysed, aggregated at the neighbourhood level. We performed spatial regression analyses to investigate associations between the cumulative number of SARS-CoV-2 infections per 1000 inhabitants (cum. SARS-CoV-2 infections) up to 31.05.2021 and built environment factors. The cum. SARS-CoV-2 infections in neighbourhoods (median: 11.5, IQR: 8.1-16.9) followed a marked socially determined north-south gradient. The effect estimates of the adjusted spatial regression models showed negative associations with urban greenness, i.e. normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) (adjusted β = - 35.36, 95% CI: - 57.68; - 13.04), rooms per person (- 10.40, - 13.79; - 7.01), living space per person (- 0.51, - 0.66; - 0.36), and residential (- 0.07, 0.16; 0.01) and commercial areas (- 0.15, - 0.25; - 0.05). Residential areas with multi-storey buildings (- 0.03, - 0.12; 0.06) and green space (0.03, - 0.05; 0.11) did not show a substantial association. Our results suggest that the built environment matters for the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infections, such as more spacious apartments or higher levels of urban greenness are associated with lower infection rates at the neighbourhood level. The unequal intra-urban distribution of these factors emphasizes prevailing environmental health inequalities regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.
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