International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
1660-4601
Cơ quản chủ quản: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) , Frontiers Media S.A.
Lĩnh vực:
PollutionPublic Health, Environmental and Occupational HealthHealth, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
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Các bài báo tiêu biểu
Examining the Features of Parks That Children Visit During Three Stages of Childhood Parks provide an opportunity for children to be physically active, but are rarely fully utilised. A better understanding of which park features attract children of varying ages is needed. This study examined which features are present at parks that children visit most often at different stages throughout childhood. Parents reported the park their child visited most often at three timepoints: T1 = 3–5 years, T2 = 6–8 years, and T3 = 9–11 years. These parks were then audited (using a purposely created audit tool) to capture information relating to access, activity areas and quality. Online mapping tools were also used to determine walking distance to parks and park size. Parks visited at T2 were further from home, larger, and had more road crossings, full courts, other facilities and comfort amenities such as toilets and lights than T1 parks. Parks visited at T3 were larger and had more sports ovals compared to T1 parks, and were significantly less likely to have barbeque facilities than T2 parks. Our findings suggest that as children transition from pre-school (T1), to primary school age (T2 and T3), they visit parks that have more facilities to support sport and active recreation.
Tập 16 Số 9 - Trang 1658
Green Exercise: How Are Characteristics of Urban Green Spaces Associated with Adolescents’ Physical Activity and Health? This study investigates associations between characteristics of urban green spaces (UGSs) and adolescents’ self-reported green exercise (GE), general health, and body mass index (BMI). Data were collected through face-to-face personal interviews with 384 adolescents ages 13–19 between 1 March and 31 May, 2018 in UGSs in Aydın, Turkey. Multivariate regression analyses were conducted to examine associations controlling for confounding factors. Stratified analyses were also conducted to determine differences between boys and girls. Positive associations with the duration of GE included many trees, lawns, soccer fields and basketball courts, play equipment, and self-reported general health. Whereas increased BMI was associated with increased benches/ seating, lawns and exercise trails were positively associated with self-reported general health. Negative relationships with increased BMI included many trees, open areas, and outdoor fitness equipment. Increased distance from UGSs was negatively associated with the frequency of GE. In stratified analyses, positive associations between boys’ duration of GE and self-reported general health were found. Whereas soccer fields and basketball courts were associated with girls’ frequency of GE, exercise trails and play equipment were correlated with girls’ self-reported general health. Negative associations with the boys’ frequency of GE included increased BMI and screen time. Whereas increased distance from UGSs was negatively associated with girls’ frequency of GE, many trees, lawns, exercise trails, play equipment, open areas, flowerbeds, and outdoor fitness equipment were negatively correlated with girls’ increased BMI. Findings suggest that adolescents’ GE and health could be promoted with many trees, lawns, flowerbeds, open areas, play and outdoor fitness equipment, exercise trails, and soccer fields and basketball courts. Findings of this study should be tested with longitudinal or intervention studies in future research.
Tập 16 Số 21 - Trang 4281
The Association between Green Space and Adolescents’ Mental Well-Being: A Systematic Review This systematic review summarised and evaluated the evidence for associations between green space and adolescents’ mental well-being. The PRISMA statement guidelines were followed for reporting systematic reviews. Fourteen articles met the inclusion criteria for this review. Synthesis suggests beneficial associations between green space exposure and reduced stress, positive mood, less depressive symptoms, better emotional well-being, improved mental health and behaviour, and decreased psychological distress in adolescents. Several studies found the relationship varied by demographic and socio-economic factors. The limited number of studies and the risk of bias were the main limitations, together with heterogeneity regarding green space and mental well-being assessments. Overall, this review highlights the potential contribution of green space in schoolyards. Improving the availability, accessibility and quality of green space is likely to generate positive impacts on adolescents’ mental well-being. More consistent evidence on the use of different types of green space and perceptions of features are needed in the future.
Tập 17 Số 18 - Trang 6640
Determination of Motivating Factors of Urban Forest Visitors through Latent Dirichlet Allocation Topic Modeling Despite the unique characteristics of urban forests, the motivating factors of urban forest visitors have not been clearly differentiated from other types of the forest resource. This study aims to identify the motivating factors of urban forest visitors, using latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) topic modeling based on social big data. A total of 57,449 cases of social text data from social blogs containing the keyword “urban forest” were collected from Naver and Daum, the major search engines in South Korea. Then, 17,229 cases were excluded using morpheme analysis and stop word elimination; 40,110 cases were analyzed to identify the motivating factors of urban forest visitors through LDA topic modeling. Seven motivating factors—“Cafe-related Walk”, “Healing Trip”, “Daily Leisure”, “Family Trip”, “Wonderful View”, “Clean Space”, and “Exhibition and Photography”—were extracted; each contained five keywords. This study elucidates the role of forests as a place for healing, leisure, and daily exercise. The results suggest that efforts should be made toward developing various programs regarding the basic functionality of urban forests as a natural resource and a unique place to support a diversity of leisure and cultural activities.
Tập 18 Số 18 - Trang 9649
Low Childhood Nature Exposure is Associated with Worse Mental Health in Adulthood Exposure to natural outdoor environments (NOE) is associated with health benefits; however, evidence on the impact of NOE exposure during childhood on mental health (MH) and vitality in adulthood is scarce. This study was based on questionnaire data collected from 3585 participants, aged 18–75, in the PHENOTYPE project (2013) in four European cities. Mixed models were used to investigate associations between childhood NOE exposure and (i) MH; (ii) vitality (perceived level of energy and fatigue); and (iii) potential mediation by perceived amount, use, satisfaction, importance of NOE, and residential surrounding greenness, using pooled and city-level data. Adults with low levels of childhood NOE exposure had, when compared to adults with high levels of childhood NOE exposure, significantly worse mental health (coef. −4.13; 95% CI −5.52, −2.74). Childhood NOE exposure was not associated with vitality. Low levels of childhood NOE exposure were associated with lower importance of NOE (OR 0.81; 95% CI 0.66, 0.98) in adulthood. The association with perceived amount of NOE differed between cities. We found no evidence for mediation. Childhood NOE exposure might be associated with mental well-being in adulthood. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings and to identify mechanisms underlying long-term benefits of childhood NOE exposure.
Tập 16 Số 10 - Trang 1809
Does Perceived Green Space Quality Matter? Linking Norwegian Adult Perspectives on Perceived Quality to Motivation and Frequency of Visits Individual perceptions of green space quality are essential when a user considers engaging in activities. This national-scale study provides insights into Norwegians’ quality perceptions of municipal green space, visit frequency and motivations for engaging in different activities. We applied regression analysis to investigate how various factors affect the outcome variables, quality perceptions and visit frequency from a sample of the Norwegian adult population. Results reveal that Norwegians perceive their green spaces as having good quality, and higher quality perceptions have a positive influence on green space visits. Half of the respondents visited green spaces out of intrinsic motives in high-quality environments providing fresh air, experiences of nature and quietness. It is essential, however, to take into account that less reported activity mirrors groups of respondents who least often visit green spaces.
Tập 16 Số 13 - Trang 2327
Understanding Urban Green Space as a Health Resource: A Qualitative Comparison of Visit Motivation and Derived Effects among Park Users in Sheffield, UK With increasing interest in the use of urban green space to promote human health, there is a need to understand the extent to which park users conceptualize these places as a resource for health and well-being. This study sought to examine park users’ own reasons for and benefits from green space usage and compare these with concepts and constructs in existing person-environment-health theories and models of health. Conducted in 13 public green spaces in Sheffield, UK, we undertook a qualitative content analysis of 312 park users’ responses to open-ended interview questions and identified a breadth, depth and salience of visit motivators and derived effects. Findings highlight a discrepancy between reasons for visiting and derived effects from the use of urban green space. Motivations emphasized walking, green space qualities, and children. Derived effects highlighted relaxation, positive emotions within the self and towards the place, and spiritual well-being. We generate a taxonomy of motivations and derived effects that could facilitate operationalization within empirical research and articulate a conceptual framework linking motivators to outcomes for investigating green space as a resource for human health and well-being.
Tập 10 Số 1 - Trang 417-442
A Review of Frameworks for Developing Environmental Health Indicators for Climate Change and Health The role climate change may play in altering human health, particularly in the emergence and spread of diseases, is an evolving area of research. It is important to understand this relationship because it will compound the already significant burden of diseases on national economies and public health. Authorities need to be able to assess, anticipate, and monitor human health vulnerability to climate change, in order to plan for, or implement action to avoid these eventualities. Environmental health indicators (EHIs) provide a tool to assess, monitor, and quantify human health vulnerability, to aid in the design and targeting of interventions, and measure the effectiveness of climate change adaptation and mitigation activities. Our aim was to identify the most suitable framework for developing EHIs to measure and monitor the impacts of climate change on human health and inform the development of interventions. Using published literature we reviewed the attributes of 11 frameworks. We identified the Driving force-Pressure-State-Exposure-Effect-Action (DPSEEA) framework as the most suitable one for developing EHIs for climate change and health. We propose the use of EHIs as a valuable tool to assess, quantify, and monitor human health vulnerability, design and target interventions, and measure the effectiveness of climate change adaptation and mitigation activities. In this paper, we lay the groundwork for the future development of EHIs as a multidisciplinary approach to link existing environmental and epidemiological data and networks. Analysis of such data will contribute to an enhanced understanding of the relationship between climate change and human health.
Tập 8 Số 7 - Trang 2854-2875
Decoupling between Economic Development and Carbon Emissions and Its Driving Factors: Evidence from China Analyzing the relationship between economic development and carbon emissions is conducive to better energy saving and emission reduction. This study is based on the panel data of China’s carbon emissions, from 2009 to 2019, and quantitative analysis of the relationship between carbon emissions and economic development through the Tapio decoupling model and the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) decomposition model. The results show that: First, carbon emission and economic development are increasing year by year, and the development trend of economic growth rate and carbon emission growth rate presents the characteristics of consistency and stage. Second, China’s carbon emissions and economic development are basically in a weak decoupling state, and carbon emissions and economic development are positively correlated. Third, there are significant differences in decoupling indices among the four regions, mainly in that the central region is better than the eastern region, the eastern region is better than the northeast region, the northeast region is better than the western region, and the development of provinces in the region is unbalanced. Fourth, from the perspective of driving factors, the elasticity of population size and economic intensity can restrain the decoupling of carbon emissions, while the elasticity of energy intensity and carbon intensity have a positive effect. Finally, according to the results of empirical analysis, this paper focuses on promoting China’s emission reduction and energy sustainable development from the aspects of developing low-carbon and zero carbon technology, supporting new energy industries and promoting the construction of a carbon emission trading market.
Tập 19 Số 5 - Trang 2893
Tobacco Smoke: Involvement of Reactive Oxygen Species and Stable Free Radicals in Mechanisms of Oxidative Damage, Carcinogenesis and Synergistic Effects with Other Respirable Particles Tobacco smoke contains many toxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic chemicals, as well as stable and unstable free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the particulate and the gas phase with the potential for biological oxidative damage. Epidemiological evidence established that smoking is one of the most important extrinsic factor of premature morbidity and mortality. The objective of this study was to investigate oxidative and carcinogenic mechanisms of tobacco and synergistic action with other respirable particles in the respiratory system of smokers. Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) and spin- trapping techniques were used to study stable free radicals in the cigarette tar, and unstable superoxide anion (O2·-) and hydroxyl (HO·) radicals in the smoke Results showed that the semiquinone radical system has the potential for redox recycling and oxidative action. Further, results proved that aqueous cigarette tar (ACT) solutions can generate adducts with DNA nucleobases, particularly the mutagenic 8-hydroxy-2’-deoxyguanosine (a biomarker for carcinogenesis).Also, we observed synergistic effects in the generation of HO·, through the Fenton reaction, with environmental respirable particles (asbestos fibres, coal dust, etc.) and ambient particulate matter (PM), such as PM10, PM2.5 and diesel exhaust particles (DEP). The highest synergistic effects was observed with the asbestos fibres (freshly grounded), PM2.5 and DEP. Finally, we discuss results from our previous study of conventional cellulose acetate filters and “bio-filters” with hemoglobin impregnated activated carbon, which showed that these filters do not substantially alter the free radical content of smoke in the particulate and in the gaseous phase.
Tập 6 Số 2 - Trang 445-462