Morbidity is related to a green living environment

Abstract

Background: As a result of increasing urbanisation, people face the prospect of living in environments with few green spaces. There is increasing evidence for a positive relation between green space in people's living environment and self-reported indicators of physical and mental health. This study investigates whether physicianassessed morbidity is also related to green space in people's living environment. Methods: Morbidity data were derived from electronic medical records of 195 general practitioners in 96 Dutch practices, serving a population of 345 143 people. Morbidity was classified by the general practitioners according to the International Classification of Primary Care. The percentage of green space within a 1 km and 3 km radius around the postal code coordinates was derived from an existing database and was calculated for each household. Multilevel logistic regression analyses were performed, controlling for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Results: The annual prevalence rate of 15 of the 24 disease clusters was lower in living environments with more green space in a 1 km radius. The relation was strongest for anxiety disorder and depression. The relation was stronger for children and people with a lower socioeconomic status. Furthermore, the relation was strongest in slightly urban areas and not apparent in very strongly urban areas. Conclusion: This study indicates that the previously established relation between green space and a number of self-reported general indicators of physical and mental health can also be found for clusters of specific physicianassessed morbidity. The study stresses the importance of green space close to home for children and lower socioeconomic groups.

Flourishing in nature: A review of the benefits of connecting with nature and its application as a wellbeing intervention

“…A survey of 3,000 Finnish participants found that those who reported spending more of their leisure time engaged in nature-based recreational activities had higher emotional wellbeing than those who reported spending less of their free time in nature (Korpela, Borodulin, Neuvonen, Paronen, & Tyrväinen, 2014). A series of large-scale European studies based on data from national surveys has investigated the influence of nearby green space on wellbeing and mental health (de Vries, Verheij, Groenewegen, & Spreeuwenberg, 2003;Maas et al, 2009;Van den Berg et al, 2010;White, Alcock, Wheeler, & Depledge, 2013). These studies consistently find that living in an area with more green space is associated with less mental distress than living in an area with less green space.…”

Green spaces and pregnancy outcomes in Southern California

“…In a context of rapid urbanization at the global scale, there is growing interest in the relationships between green spaces and health (Bowler et al, 2010;Lee and Maheswaran, 2011;Maas et al, 2009). Greenness exposure has been associated with reductions in risks of various health outcomes, including self-perceived health (Maas et al, 2006;Mitchell and Popham, 2007), blood pressure (Agyemang et al, 2007) and mortality (Villeneuve et al, 2012).…”

Parental influence on children’s physical activity in urban green spaces

“…Studies indicate that access to UGS is associated with many health benefits for children. Studies, for instance, show that children who live in greener surroundings or have views of and access to green environments are healthier (Grahn, 1996), cope better with stressful life events (Wells and Evans, 2003), have lower rates of depression (Maas, et al, 2009), less stress and anxiety (Chawla, et al, 2014), reduced symptoms of attention deficit disorder (ADD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (Kuo and Faber Taylor, 2004;Faber Taylor and Kuo, 2009), and higher self-discipline (Faber Taylor, et al, 2002), and show more focused attention (Grahn, 1996;Wells, 2000) and reduced inattentiveness (Dadvand, et al, 2015).…”