A Review of Epidemiologic Studies on Greenness and Health: Updated Literature Through 2017

James P, Banay RF, Hart JE, Laden F. A review of the health benefits of greenness. Curr Epidemiol Rep. 2015;2(2):131–42. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40471-015-0043-7 .

Frumkin H, Bratman GN, Breslow SJ, Cochran B, Kahn PH, Lawler JJ, et al. Nature contact and human health: a research agenda. Environ Health Perspect. 2017;125(7):075001. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP1663 .

Markevych I, Schoierer J, Hartig T, Chudnovsky A, Hystad P, Dzhambov AM, et al. Exploring pathways linking greenspace to health: theoretical and methodological guidance. Environ Res. 2017;158:301–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2017.06.028 .

Wilson EO. Biophilia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press; 1984.

Hansen MM, Jones R, Tocchini K. Shinrin-Yoku (forest bathing) and nature therapy: a state-of-the-art review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2017;14(8) https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14080851 .

Weier J, Herring D. Measuring vegetation (NDVI & EVI) [Internet]. 2000 [cited 2016 May 20]. Available from: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/MeasuringVegetation/measuring_vegetation_2.php .

USGS. Remote sensing phenology [Internet]. [cited 2017 Sep 9]. Available from: https://phenology.cr.usgs.gov/ndvi_avhrr.php .

• Dadvand P, Nieuwenhuijsen MJ, Esnaola M, Forns J, Basagaña X, Alvarez-Pedrerol M, et al. Green spaces and cognitive development in primary schoolchildren. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015;112(26):7937–42. This study had prospective design and investigated cognitive ability, a relatively less often researched outcome. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1503402112 .

Sarkar C. Residential greenness and adiposity: findings from the UK Biobank. Environ Int. 2017;106:1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2017.05.016 .

Abelt K, McLafferty S. Green streets: urban green and birth outcomes. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2017;14(7):771. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14070771 .

Casey JA, James P, Rudolph KE, Wu C-D, Schwartz BS. Greenness and birth outcomes in a range of Pennsylvania communities. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2016;13(3) https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13030311 .

• Cusack L, Larkin A, Carozza SE, Hystad P. Associations between multiple green space measures and birth weight across two US cities. Health Place. 2017;47:36–43. This study demonstrates that in two cities, the association between greenness and birth weight was different. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2017.07.002 .

Ebisu K, Holford TR, Bell ML. Association between greenness, urbanicity, and birth weight. Sci Total Environ. 2016;542(Pt A):750–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.10.111 .

Andrusaityte S, Grazuleviciene R, Kudzyte J, Bernotiene A, Dedele A, Nieuwenhuijsen MJ. Associations between neighbourhood greenness and asthma in preschool children in Kaunas, Lithuania: a case-control study. BMJ Open. 2016;6(4):e010341. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2015-010341 .

Bijnens EM, Nawrot TS, Loos RJ, Gielen M, Vlietinck R, Derom C, et al. Blood pressure in young adulthood and residential greenness in the early-life environment of twins. Environ Health Glob Access Sci Source. 2017;16:53.

Dadvand P, Bartoll X, Basagaña X, Dalmau-Bueno A, Martinez D, Ambros A, et al. Green spaces and general health: roles of mental health status, social support, and physical activity. Environ Int. 2016;91:161–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2016.02.029 .

Demoury C, Thierry B, Richard H, Sigler B, Kestens Y, Parent M-E. Residential greenness and risk of prostate cancer: a case-control study in Montreal, Canada. Environ Int. 2017;98:129–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2016.10.024 .

Kim J, Kim H. Demographic and environmental factors associated with mental health: a cross-sectional study. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2017;14(4):431. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14040431 .

Dewulf B, Neutens T, Van Dyck D, De Bourdeaudhuij I, Broekx S, Beckx C, et al. Associations between time spent in green areas and physical activity among late middle-aged adults. Geospat Health. 2016;11:411.

Bijnens E, Zeegers MP, Gielen M, Kicinski M, Hageman GJ, Pachen D, et al. Lower placental telomere length may be attributed to maternal residential traffic exposure; a twin study. Environ Int. 2015;79:1–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2015.02.008 .

Markevych I, Standl M, Sugiri D, Harris C, Maier W, Berdel D, et al. Residential greenness and blood lipids in children: a longitudinal analysis in GINIplus and LISAplus. Environ Res. 2016;151:168–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2016.07.037 .

Zijlema WL, Triguero-Mas M, Smith G, Cirach M, Martinez D, Dadvand P, et al. The relationship between natural outdoor environments and cognitive functioning and its mediators. Environ Res. 2017;155:268–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2017.02.017 .

•• Vienneau D, de Hoogh K, Faeh D, Kaufmann M, Wunderli JM, Röösli M, et al. More than clean air and tranquillity: residential green is independently associated with decreasing mortality. Environ Int. 2017;108:176–84. This was a very large cohort study covering a close-to-complete population of an entire country, allowing it to investigate how the associations vary by region. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2017.08.012 .

Wu J, Jackson L. Inverse relationship between urban green space and childhood autism in California elementary school districts. Environ Int. 2017;107:140–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2017.07.010 .

Grazuleviciene R, Danileviciute A, Dedele A, Vencloviene J, Andrusaityte S, Uždanaviciute I, et al. Surrounding greenness, proximity to city parks and pregnancy outcomes in Kaunas cohort study. Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2015;218(3):358–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheh.2015.02.004 .

• Tischer C, Gascon M, Fernández-Somoano A, Tardón A, Lertxundi Materola A, Ibarluzea J, et al. Urban green and grey space in relation to respiratory health in children. Eur Respir J. 2017;49. This was a prospective cohort covering multiple asthma and allergy outcomes(6):1502112. https://doi.org/10.1183/13993003.02112-2015 .

McEachan RRC, Prady SL, Smith G, Fairley L, Cabieses B, Gidlow C, et al. The association between green space and depressive symptoms in pregnant women: moderating roles of socioeconomic status and physical activity. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2016;70(3):253–9. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2015-205954 .

Triguero-Mas M, Dadvand P, Cirach M, Martínez D, Medina A, Mompart A, et al. Natural outdoor environments and mental and physical health: relationships and mechanisms. Environ Int. 2015;77:35–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2015.01.012 .

Weimann H, Rylander L, Albin M, Skärbäck E, Grahn P, Östergren P-O, et al. Effects of changing exposure to neighbourhood greenness on general and mental health: a longitudinal study. Health Place. 2015;33:48–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2015.02.003 .

Markevych I, Smith MP, Jochner S, Standl M, Brüske I, von Berg A, et al. Neighbourhood and physical activity in German adolescents: GINIplus and LISAplus. Environ Res. 2016;147:284–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2016.02.023 .

Almanza E, Jerrett M, Dunton G, Seto E, Pentz MA. A study of community design, greenness, and physical activity in children using satellite, GPS and accelerometer data. Health Place. 2012;18(1):46–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2011.09.003 .

Dadvand P, Sunyer J, Alvarez-Pedrerol M, Dalmau-Bueno A, Esnaola M, Gascon M, et al. Green spaces and spectacles use in schoolchildren in Barcelona. Environ Res. 2017;152:256–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2016.10.026 .

•• James P, Hart JE, Hipp JA, Mitchell JA, Kerr J, Hurvitz PM, et al. GPS-based exposure to greenness and walkability and accelerometry-based physical activity. Cancer Epidemiol Biomark Prev Publ Am Assoc Cancer Res Cosponsored Am Soc Prev Oncol. 2017;26(4):525–32. This study used GPS devices and accelerometers to track the location and physical activity levels of study subjects, allowing it to minimize exposure misclassification. It also investigated non-linearity. https://doi.org/10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-16-0925 .

Younan D, Tuvblad C, Li L, Wu J, Lurmann F, Franklin M, et al. Environmental determinants of aggression in adolescents: role of urban neighborhood greenspace. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2016;55(7):591–601. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2016.05.002 .

•• Cusack L, Larkin A, Carozza S, Hystad P. Associations between residential greenness and birth outcomes across Texas. Environ Res. 2017;152:88–95. This study had a very large sample size, and it looked at multiple birth outcomes. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2016.10.003 .

McMorris O, Villeneuve PJ, Su J, Jerrett M. Urban greenness and physical activity in a national survey of Canadians. Environ Res. 2015;137:94–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2014.11.010 .

van Heeswijck T, Paquet C, Kestens Y, Thierry B, Morency C, Daniel M. Differences in associations between active transportation and built environmental exposures when expressed using different components of individual activity spaces. Health Place. 2015;33:195–202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2015.03.003 .

Chaix B, Kestens Y, Perchoux C, Karusisi N, Merlo J, Labadi K. An interactive mapping tool to assess individual mobility patterns in neighborhood studies. Am J Prev Med. 2012;43(4):440–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2012.06.026 .

•• Gariepy G, Kaufman JS, Blair A, Kestens Y, Schmitz N. Place and health in diabetes: the neighbourhood environment and risk of depression in adults with type 2 diabetes. Diabet Med J Br Diabet Assoc. 2015;32(7):944–50. This was a prospective study on depression that adjusted for many potential confounders. https://doi.org/10.1111/dme.12650 .

Banay RF, Bezold CP, James P, Hart JE, Laden F. Residential greenness: current perspectives on its impact on maternal health and pregnancy outcomes. Int J Womens Health. 2017;9:133–44. https://doi.org/10.2147/IJWH.S125358 .

Fuertes E, Markevych I, Bowatte G, Gruzieva O, Gehring U, Becker A, et al. Residential greenness is differentially associated with childhood allergic rhinitis and aeroallergen sensitization in seven birth cohorts. Allergy. 2016;71(10):1461–71. https://doi.org/10.1111/all.12915 .

Notas G, Bariotakis M, Kalogrias V, Andrianaki M, Azariadis K, Kampouri E, et al. Accurate prediction of severe allergic reactions by a small set of environmental parameters (NDVI, temperature). PLoS One. 2015;10(3):e0121475. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0121475 .

Yitshak-Sade M, Kloog I, Novack V. Do air pollution and neighborhood greenness exposures improve the predicted cardiovascular risk? Environ Int. 2017;107:147–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2017.07.011 .

• Crouse DL, Pinault L, Balram A, Hystad P, Peters PA, Chen H, et al. Urban greenness and mortality in Canada’s largest cities: a national cohort study. Lancet Planet Health. 2017;1(7):e289–97. This was a large cohort investigating greenness and its associations with mortality in mostly urban environments. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(17)30118-3 .

James P, Hart JE, Banay RF, Laden F. Exposure to greenness and mortality in a nationwide prospective cohort study of women. Environ Health Perspect. 2016;124(9):1344–52. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1510363 .

de Keijzer C, Agis D, Ambrós A, Arévalo G, Baldasano JM, Bande S, et al. The association of air pollution and greenness with mortality and life expectancy in Spain: a small-area study. Environ Int. 2017;99:170–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2016.11.009 .

Son J-Y, Lane KJ, Lee J-T, Bell ML. Urban vegetation and heat-related mortality in Seoul, Korea. Environ Res. 2016;151:728–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2016.09.001 .

Burkart K, Meier F, Schneider A, Breitner S, Canário P, Alcoforado MJ, et al. Modification of heat-related mortality in an elderly urban population by vegetation (urban green) and proximity to water (urban blue): evidence from Lisbon, Portugal. Environ Health Perspect. 2016;124(7):927–34. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1409529 .

Thiering E, Markevych I, Brüske I, Fuertes E, Kratzsch J, Sugiri D, et al. Associations of residential long-term air pollution exposures and satellite-derived greenness with insulin resistance in German adolescents. Environ Health Perspect. 2016;124(8):1291–8. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1509967 .

Orban E, Sutcliffe R, Dragano N, Jöckel K-H, Moebus S. Residential surrounding greenness, self-rated health and interrelations with aspects of neighborhood environment and social relations. J Urban Health Bull N Y Acad Med. 2017;94(2):158–69. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-016-0112-3 .

Kondo MC, South EC, Branas CC, Richmond TS, Wiebe DJ. The association between urban tree cover and gun assault: a case-control and case-crossover study. Am J Epidemiol. 2017;186(3):289–96. https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwx096 .

MacNaughton P, Eitland E, Kloog I, Schwartz J, Allen J. Impact of particulate matter exposure and surrounding “greenness” on chronic absenteeism in Massachusetts public schools. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2017;14(3) https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14020207 .

Kigozi SP, Pindolia DK, Smith DL, Arinaitwe E, Katureebe A, Kilama M, et al. Associations between urbanicity and malaria at local scales in Uganda. Malar J. 2015;14(1):374. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-015-0865-2 .

Entringer S, Buss C, Wadhwa PD. Prenatal stress, telomere biology, and fetal programming of health and disease risk. Sci Signal. 2012;5:pt12.

Zhao Z, Pan X, Liu L, Liu N. Telomere length maintenance, shortening, and lengthening. J Cell Physiol. 2014;229(10):1323–9. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcp.24537 .

•• Fuertes E, Markevych I, von Berg A, Bauer C-P, Berdel D, Koletzko S, et al. Greenness and allergies: evidence of differential associations in two areas in Germany. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2014;68(8):787–90. This was a prospective analysis combining data of multiple cohorts and illustrates that different associations between greenness and specific outcomes can occur with data from varying geographic regions. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2014-203903 .

Dadvand P, Villanueva CM, Font-Ribera L, Martinez D, Basagaña X, Belmonte J, et al. Risks and benefits of green spaces for children: a cross-sectional study of associations with sedentary behavior, obesity, asthma, and allergy. Environ Health Perspect. 2014;122(12):1329–35. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1308038 .

Blair SN, Morris JN. Healthy hearts—and the universal benefits of being physically active: physical activity and health. Ann Epidemiol. 2009;19(4):253–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2009.01.019 .

Albus C. Psychological and social factors in coronary heart disease. Ann Med. 2010;42(7):487–94. https://doi.org/10.3109/07853890.2010.515605 .

Gold DR, Mittleman MA. New insights into pollution and the cardiovascular system: 2010 to 2012. Circulation. 2013;127(18):1903–13. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.111.064337 .

Villeneuve PJ, Jerrett M, Su JG, Burnett RT, Chen H, Wheeler AJ, et al. A cohort study relating urban green space with mortality in Ontario, Canada. Environ Res. 2012;115:51–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2012.03.003 .

Pan C-W, Ramamurthy D, Saw S-M. Worldwide prevalence and risk factors for myopia. Ophthalmic Physiol Opt. 2012;32(1):3–16. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-1313.2011.00884.x .

Oliveira JC d, Epiphanio JCN. Noise reduction in MODIS NDVI time series data based on spatial-temporal analysis. 2012 I.E. Int. Geosci. Remote Sens. Symp. 2012. p. 2372–5.

Gidlöf-Gunnarsson A, Öhrström E. Noise and well-being in urban residential environments: the potential role of perceived availability to nearby green areas. Landsc Urban Plan. 2007;83(2-3):115–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2007.03.003 .

Nowak DJ, Crane DE, Stevens JC. Air pollution removal by urban trees and shrubs in the United States. Urban For Urban Green. 2006;4(3-4):115–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2006.01.007 .

Hyam R. Automated image sampling and classification can be used to explore perceived naturalness of urban spaces. PLoS One. 2017;12(1):e0169357. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0169357 .

James P, Jankowska M, Marx C, Hart JE, Berrigan D, Kerr J, et al. “Spatial energetics”: integrating data from GPS, accelerometry, and GIS to address obesity and inactivity. Am J Prev Med. 2016;51(5):792–800. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2016.06.006 .

Chaix B, Méline J, Duncan S, Merrien C, Karusisi N, Perchoux C, et al. GPS tracking in neighborhood and health studies: a step forward for environmental exposure assessment, a step backward for causal inference? Health Place. 2013;21:46–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2013.01.003 .