The impact of social capital, land use, air pollution and noise on individual morbidity in Dutch neighbourhoods.

Background Both social and physical neighbourhood factors may affect residents' health, but few studies have considered the combination of several exposures in relation to individual health status. Aim To assess a range of different potentially relevant physical and social environmental characteristics in a sample of small neighbourhoods in the Netherlands, to study their mutual correlations and to explore associations with morbidity of residents using routinely collected general practitioners' (GPs') data. Methods For 135 neighbourhoods in 43 Dutch municipalities, we could assess area-level social cohesion and collective efficacy using external questionnaire data, urbanisation, amount of greenspace and water areas, land use diversity, air pollution (particulate matter (PM) with a diameter <10 μm (PM10), PM