Self-perceived health is an important factor for assessing urban residents’ satisfaction and quality of life. However, few have comprehensively investigated the impact of demographics, lifestyle and health awareness, indoor environment characteristics, and neighborhood features on self-perceived health. To fill this gap, we designed a framework using multivariable regressions to derive odd rations and to analyze the determinants of self-rated health, stratified into different sub-groups divided by gender, age, and neighborhood types. The study area is Chengdu, one of the most populous cities in western China. The results show that: (1) female respondents reported worse health, with household income level and marital status significantly affecting self-rated health; (2) elderly people reported the worst health, while unique factors affected only younger people (18–29 years old), such as gender, smoking, and indoor environment characteristics; and (3) different types of neighborhoods influence their residents’ perception of health differently due to historical establishment, current population composition, and housing conditions. Our study provides new observations on neighborhood types, while agreeing with previous studies on the influences of gender and age. We contribute to the field by providing a more complex understanding of the mechanism by which people rate their own health, which is important for understanding the satisfaction of urban residents and the built environment in which they live.

This study investigates the contribution of formaldehyde from residential building materials to ambient air in mainland China. Based on 265 indoor field tests in 9 provinces, we estimate that indoor residential sources are responsible for 6.66% of the total anthropogenic formaldehyde in China’s ambient air (range for 31 provinces: 1.88–18.79%). Residential building materials rank 6th among 81 anthropogenic sources (range: 2nd–10th for 31 provinces). Emission intensities show large spatial variability between and within regions due to different residential densities, emission characteristics of building materials, and indoor thermal conditions. Our findings indicate that formaldehyde from the indoor environment is a significant source of ambient formaldehyde, especially in urban areas. This study will help to more accurately evaluate exposure to ambient formaldehyde and its related pollutants, and will assist in formulating policies to protect air quality and public health.