When your health starts in your neighbourhood

MET’HOOD project delves into the connection between a residential neighbourhood and cardio-metabolic health

• Physical Activity, Sport and Health
• Department of Precision Health

Cardio-metabolic diseases, such as diabetes, heart attack and stroke, represent the first cause of premature death worldwide, and Luxembourg is no exception. Risk factors leading to a cardio-metabolic disease include overweight, obesity, high blood pressure or high blood sugar – factors which are often accumulated together. Better-known key influencers are primarily related to lifestyle and daily habits. Interestingly, however, a person’s geographical environment has emerged as a potential significant determinant of cardio-metabolic disease.

Launched in 2021, the MET’HOOD (Time-varying residential neighbourhood effects on cardio-metabolic health) project offered an unprecedented opportunity to analyse the long-term effects of the geographical environments on cardio-metabolic health on a national scale in Luxembourg. The project, conducted jointly by the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) and the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER), examined the characteristics of a person’s residential neighbourhood and their impact on cardio-metabolic health. The project also investigated social inequalities in the association between neighbourhood characteristics and cardio-metabolic health, in an effort to revise the urban policies that could better support health equity.