Associations between urban metrics and mortality rates in England.

BACKGROUND: Seventy-five percent of the population in Europe live in urban areas and analysing the effects of urban form on the health of the urban population is of great public health interest. Not much is known, however, on the effects of urban form on the health of city dwellers. This study uses a novel approach to investigate whether associations exist between different measures of urban form and mortality risks in cities in England. METHODS: We conducted an ecological, cross-sectional study for urban areas in England with more than 100,000 residents (n = 50) and included all registered premature deaths (