Built environment and its association with self-rated health in Brazilian elderly: National Health Survey 2013

The present study aims to investigate the association between the built environment and positive self-rated health among older adults from Brazilian capitals. It is a cross-sectional pop-ulation-based study, which collected data from the National Health Survey 2013 and the Obser-vatorio das Metropoles. The outcome was a posi-tive self-rated health. The built environment was investigated by the Urban Wellbeing Index (IBEU, in Portuguese). Analyses were performed by multi-level logistic regression (95%CI). Among the 4,643 elderly individuals evaluated in this study, 51.5% reported a positive self-rated health (95%CI: 50.0-52.9). Elderly people living in capitals with higher IBEU terciles were more likely to have a positive self-rated health (OR: 1.42; 95%CI: 1.08-1.86 (T2); OR: 1.78; 95%CI: 1.35-2.33 (T3)). As for the dimensions of the IBEU, the following were associ-ated with the outcome: urban infrastructure (OR: 1.56; 95%CI: 1.13-2.16), urban environmental conditions (OR: 1.49; 95%CI: 1.10-2.04), urban housing conditions (OR: 1.45; 95%CI: 1.05-1.99), and urban collective services (OR: 1.72; 95%CI: 1.30-2.27). A positive association was found be-tween better conditions of the built environment and ones' perception of health, regardless of indi-vidual characteristics. Promoting changes in the built environment can be effective in improving health levels, thus favoring healthy aging.