BMC Public Health 2007, 7:285 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/7/285 Table 3: Unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% Confidence Intervals (CI) of reporting poor health Model 1: Socio-demographics (1) Gender (female) Male Age Social class (I & II) III NM III M IV & V Other Employment status (employed) Unemployed Retired Disabled Other Household tenure (Homeowner) Non-homeowner Model 2a: Unadjusted (2 3) Access to amenities Neighbourhood quality Neighbourhood disorder Social cohesion Deprivation Model 2b: Adjusted for socio-demographics (2 3) Access to amenities Neighbourhood quality Neighbourhood disorder Social cohesion Deprivation Model 2c: Adjusted for socio-demographics and deprivation (23) Access to amenities Neighbourhood quality Neighbourhood disorder Social cohesion OR 1.10 1.02 1.07 1.32 1.40 1.46 1.45 2.32 18.55 1.51 1.57 1.13 1.33 1.25 1.14 1.35 1.10 1.20 1.13 1.09 1.19 1.07 1.13 1.05 1.04 95% CI 0.99–1.21 1.02–1.03 0.93–1.24 1.15–1.52 1.23–1.60 1.16–1.83 1.10–1.90 2.01–2.68 15.56–22.11 1.27–1.80 1.39–1.76 1.08–1.19 1.27–1.39 1.19–1.32 1.08–1.20 1.29–1.42 1.04–1.15 1.14–1.26 1.07–1.19 1.04–1.14 1.13–1.25 1.02–1.12 1.07–1.20 1.00–1.11 0.99–1.09 p 0.075 <0.001 0.352 <0.001 <0.001 0.001 0.008 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 0.004 <0.001 0.059 0.110 (1) Reference groups are given in brackets. (2) The neighbourhood measures were included as z-scores, with higher values representing a more negative evaluation. (3) The odds ratios are expressed for each SD increase. 7% higher as compared to the odds of men reporting poor health. No major gender differences were found for the contextual effects of access to amenities, neighbourhood quality and disorder, and neighbourhood deprivation. Discussion This study examined the associations between different aspects of the neighbourhood environment and people's self rated health, and investigated whether these associa- tions vary between men and women. The results showed that, before and after controlling for socio-demographic differences, the neighbourhood characteristics of poor access to amenities, poor neighbourhood quality, neigh- bourhood disorder, lack of social cohesion, and depriva- tion are associated with the reporting of poor health. They further showed that social cohesion is linked with women's health but not men's health, and that unem- ployment affects men's health but not women's health. This study provides further empirical evidence for the idea that the neighbourhood environment is associated with people's health. It confirms the findings of a number of previous studies that the presence of neighbourhood problems and crime, and poor access to amenities, are linked with poor health [3-6,8,10]. The result that neigh- bourhood deprivation is detrimental to people's health, even when taking into account individual socio-economic status, is consistent with other studies on the impact of the socio-economic environment on public health [1,20]. Social cohesion was inversely related to the reporting of poor health, confirming that the social organisation of the local community plays an important role in public health Page 6 of 10 (page number not for citation purposes)