Environmental and Policy Change to Support Healthy Aging

Given the growing evidence of the influence of the environment on older adult health, the need to design and implement effective environmental policy around healthy and vital aging is urgent. This article describes issues amenable to improvement through policy change, evidence supporting specific policy approaches and outcomes, and promising strategies for implementing those approaches. Key areas of focus are neighborhood design and safety, housing, transportation, and mobility. Strategies to build capacity for policy change are also addressed. Our goals are to foster greater attention to environmental change in support of healthy aging and to illuminate directions for policy change.

[1]  Craig Zimring,et al.  Where Active Older Adults Walk , 2007 .

[2]  Laura Kettel Khan,et al.  Recommended community strategies and measurements to prevent obesity in the United States. , 2009, MMWR. Recommendations and reports : Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Recommendations and reports.

[3]  Jennifer L Balfour,et al.  Neighborhood environment and loss of physical function in older adults: evidence from the Alameda County Study. , 2002, American journal of epidemiology.

[4]  Lawrence D. Frank,et al.  Healthy Neighborhoods: Walkability and Air Pollution , 2009, Environmental health perspectives.

[5]  Gert Jan Wijlhuizen,et al.  Older persons afraid of falling reduce physical activity to prevent outdoor falls. , 2007, Preventive medicine.

[6]  Eric Dumbaugh,et al.  Designing Communities to Enhance the Safety and Mobility of Older Adults , 2008 .

[7]  Kayvan Karimi,et al.  Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs , 2013 .

[8]  Susanne Iwarsson,et al.  Relationships between housing and healthy aging in very old age. , 2007, The Gerontologist.

[9]  T. Koepsell,et al.  Association of the built environment with physical activity and obesity in older persons. , 2007, American journal of public health.

[10]  M. Powell Lawton,et al.  Environmental taxonomy: Generalizations from research with older adults. , 1999 .

[11]  Susanne Iwarsson,et al.  The home environment and disability-related outcomes in aging individuals: what is the empirical evidence? , 2008, The Gerontologist.

[12]  C. Nagel,et al.  The relation between neighborhood built environment and walking activity among older adults. , 2008, American journal of epidemiology.

[13]  A. Geller.  The Susceptibility of Older Adults to Environmental Hazards , 2009 .

[14]  Luigi Ferrucci,et al.  Environmental Components of Mobility Disability in Community‐Living Older Persons , 2003, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

[15]  Mary Margaret Edwards,et al.  Evaluating Smart Growth , 2007 .

[16]  William C. Sullivan,et al.  Green Common Spaces and the Social Integration of Inner-City Older Adults , 1998 .

[17]  D. Warburton,et al.  Health benefits of physical activity: the evidence , 2006, Canadian Medical Association Journal.

[18]  L. George,et al.  The role of the built environment in the disablement process. , 2005, American journal of public health.

[19]  E. McAuley,et al.  Promoting physical activity among older adults: from ecology to the individual. , 2003, American journal of preventive medicine.

[20]  D. Roth,et al.  Social isolation, support, and capital and nutritional risk in an older sample: ethnic and gender differences. , 2005, Social science & medicine.

[21]  D. Collia,et al.  The 2001 National Household Travel Survey: a look into the travel patterns of older Americans. , 2003, Journal of safety research.

[22]  L. Berkman,et al.  Perceived neighborhood safety and incident mobility disability among elders: the hazards of poverty , 2009, BMC public health.

[23]  A. Bauman,et al.  Social-cognitive and perceived environment influences associated with physical activity in older Australians. , 2000, Preventive medicine.

[24]  W. Satariano,et al.  Epidemiology Of Aging: An Ecological Approach , 2005 .

[25]  Sandra Rosenbloom,et al.  THE MOBILITY NEEDS OF OLDER AMERICANS: IMPLICATIONS FOR TRANSPORTATION REAUTHORIZATION , 2005 .

[26]  Housing Lin.  Briefing: Lifetime Homes, Lifetime Neighbourhoods - National Strategy for Housing in an Ageing Society , 2008 .

[27]  B. Winblad,et al.  Influence of social network on occurrence of dementia: a community-based longitudinal study , 2000, The Lancet.

[28]  J. Memken,et al.  Accessible Housing Availability for the Growing U.S. Elderly Population , 2007 .

[29]  John T Brooks,et al.  Guidelines for prevention and treatment of opportunistic infections in HIV-infected adults and adolescents: recommendations from CDC, the National Institutes of Health, and the HIV Medicine Association of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. , 2009, MMWR. Recommendations and reports : Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Recommendations and reports.

[30]  W. Satariano.  Driving and the promotion of safe mobility in older populations. , 2007, The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences.

[31]  T. Sugiyama,et al.  Outdoor Environments, Activity and the Well-Being of Older People: Conceptualising Environmental Support , 2007 .

[32]  Jean A. Memken,et al.  Housing the Elderly: Investigating Solutions to Help Seniors Age in Place , 2005 .

[33]  Sara Wilcox,et al.  The Prevention Research Centers Healthy Aging Research Network , 2005, Preventing chronic disease.

[34]  B. Choucair,et al.  Promoting physical activity , 2008 .

[35]  Christina Pagel,et al.  Managing the health effects of climate change , 2009 .

[36]  Ross C Brownson,et al.  The epidemiology of walking for physical activity in the United States. , 2003, Medicine and science in sports and exercise.

[37]  M. Neal,et al.  The WHO Age-Friendly Cities Project , 2009 .

[38]  Barbara Sternfeld,et al.  Outdoor falls among middle-aged and older adults: a neglected public health problem. , 2006, American journal of public health.

[39]  Philippa Clarke,et al.  Environments for healthy ageing: a critical review. , 2009, Maturitas.

[40]  Thomas A. Birkland,et al.  An Introduction to the Policy Process: Theories, Concepts and Models of Public Policy Making , 2001 .

[41]  Loren Staplin,et al.  Highway Design Handbook for Older Drivers and Pedestrians , 2001 .

[42]  H. Oxley.  Policies for Healthy Ageing: An Overview , 2009 .

[43]  Thomas A Glass,et al.  Social engagement and disability in a community population of older adults: the New Haven EPESE. , 2003, American journal of epidemiology.

[44]  B. Giles-Corti,et al.  The built environment, neighborhood crime and constrained physical activity: an exploration of inconsistent findings. , 2008, Preventive medicine.

[45]  Leslie A Perdue,et al.  Neighborhood environment in studies of health of older adults: a systematic review. , 2009, American journal of preventive medicine.