Neighborhood Characteristics and Cancer Survivorship: An Overview of the Current Literature on Neighborhood Landscapes and Cancer Care

Abstract

There is a growing literature on the association between neighborhood contexts and cancer survivorship. To understand the current trends and the gaps in the literature, we aimed to answer the following questions: To what degree, and how, has cancer survivorship research accounted for neighborhood-level effects? What neighborhood metrics have been used to operationalize neighborhood factors? To what degree do the neighborhood level metrics considered in cancer research reflect neighborhood development as identified in the Leadership for Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) guidelines? We first conducted a review guided by PRISMA extension for scoping review of the extant literature on neighborhood effects and cancer survivorship outcomes from January 2000 to January 2021. Second, we categorized the studied neighborhood metrics under six main themes. Third, we assessed the findings based on the LEED-ND guidelines to identify the most relevant neighborhood metrics in association with areas of focus in cancer survivorship care and research. The search results were scoped to 291 relevant peer-reviewed journal articles. Results show that survivorship disparities, primary care, and weight management are the main themes in the literature. Additionally, most articles rely on neighborhood SES as the primary (or only) examined neighborhood level metric. We argue that the expansion of interdisciplinary research to include neighborhood metrics endorsed by current paradigms in salutogenic urban design can enhance the understanding of the role of socioecological context in survivorship care and outcomes.

Exposure to greenspace and cancer incidence, prevalence, and mortality: A systematic review and meta-analyses

“…To the best of our knowledge, there are only two reviews available on our evaluated association and none systematically evaluated the evidence [4,5]. Our review included 18 studies, the previous scoping review [5] included only half of the studies which we included in the review.…”

“…Emerging evidence suggests a variety of health beneficial effects of greenspace (which has been defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as "land that is partly or completely covered with grass, trees, shrubs, or other vegetation" [3]). The evidence on the association between exposure to greenspace and cancer is still emerging compared with other health outcomes [4,5]. The available literature on this association is also inconsistent, while some studies have found a beneficial association for greenspace [6][7][8], others have reported an increased risk of cancers associated with this exposure [9,10], or have not observed any associations [11,12].…”

“…Up to now, two scoping reviews are available on the association between greenspace/natural environment exposure and cancer outcomes [4,5]. None of these reviews assessed the risk of bias in the literature, and in both reviews some of the current evidence with important contribution to the fields was not included, given the fact that the evidence on this association is ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT / CLEAN COPY 10 etc.…”

The Interplay between Housing Environmental Attributes and Design Exposures and Psychoneuroimmunology Profile—An Exploratory Review and Analysis Paper in the Cancer Survivors’ Mental Health Morbidity Context

“…Although evidence is still emerging, the psychosocial distress and physical wellbeing of cancer survivors was wide-ranging, exacerbated, and strongly stressed the need for drastic changes to cancer survivorship care in terms of frequency, type and mode of care delivery [26]. The main themes addressed in neighbourhood environment-related cancer survivorship care research are focused across survival disparities, primary care, and weight management, followed by quality of life and environmental exposure [27]. Scoping evidence shows how built environment features regarding urban design, land use, spatial accessibility and housing socioeconomic status are related to risk factors of cancer such as screening adherence, residential mobility, diet patterns, contaminated water and air quality [28,29].…”

“…Scoping evidence shows how built environment features regarding urban design, land use, spatial accessibility and housing socioeconomic status are related to risk factors of cancer such as screening adherence, residential mobility, diet patterns, contaminated water and air quality [28,29]. However, the correlate and causal relationships of built environment, namely housing design and environmental characteristics, cancer survival outcomes and care, and psychological wellbeing and mental comorbidities are understudied [27,29]. The individual's systemic chronic inflammatory burden has been postulated as a potential driver for multiple pathologies, including psychiatric diseases, and as a clinical predictor of multimorbidity [30].…”