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http://health./news/145335 FRIDAY, March 10 (HealthDay

News) -- People living in run-down, noisy neighborhoods with poor air

quality are three times more likely to develop physical disabilities

than residents of cleaner, better-maintained neighborhoods, a new

study finds.Researchers did an initial assessment of lower-body

function in 563 black American women and men, aged 50 to 64, living

in a poor, inner-city area of St. Louis and in a less-impoverished

suburban area of the city. The study participants were reassessed

three years later.The neighborhoods were rated based on noise, air

quality and the condition of houses, streets, yards and sidewalks.

Factors such as broken windows and faulty siding on buildings, cracks

and holes in sidewalks, and high levels of traffic or industrial

noise lowered a neighborhood's rating.Air quality and street and road

quality had the greatest effect on disability development over the

three-year study period, the researchers concluded.Our study shows

that it's not just who you are or what you do, but where you live

that affects your well-being, study author Schootman, an

assistant professor of medicine in the division of health behavior

research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis,

said in a prepared statement.It also suggests that the effort to

revitalize inner-city neighborhoods can have the added benefit of

improving the health of individuals living there, Schootman said.

Right now, the reason for the association between poor neighborhood

conditions and physical disabilities is unclear, study senior author

Dr. K. , a professor of medicine at Indiana University

School of Medicine, said in a prepared statement.It's possible that

people in neighborhoods where the sidewalks are hard to navigate and

the streets are noisy are more apt to stay indoors instead of walking

or going out to see friends. The social isolation such people

experience can have a strong negative impact on health. In addition,

staying indoors could give them greater exposure to indoor hazards

including allergens, said.More information The U.S. National

Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases explains the

benefits of

http://win.niddk.nih.gov/publications/walking.htm "