Abstract
Green space has been identified as a modifiable feature of the urban environment and associations with physiological and psychological health have been reported at the local level. This study aims to assess whether these associations between health and green space are transferable to a larger scale, with English cities as the unit of analysis. We used an ecological, cross-sectional study design. We classified satellite-based land cover data to quantify green space coverage for the 50 largest cities in England. We assessed associations between city green space coverage with risk of death from all causes, cardiovascular disease, lung cancer and suicide between 2002 and 2009 using Poisson regression with random effect. After adjustment for age, income deprivation and air pollution, we found that at the city level the risk of death from all causes and a priori selected causes, for men and women, did not significantly differ between the greenest and least green cities. These findings suggest that the local health effects of urban green space observed at the neighbourhood level in some studies do not transfer to the city level. Further work is needed to establish how urban residents interact with local green space, in order to ascertain the most relevant measures of green space.
Highlights
Urbanisation has seen a shift in the physical, social and cultural environments experienced by populations
Our unit of analysis were cities which we defined as all continuous urban areas with a summed population of 100,000 according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) urban area statistics (n = 51) [25]
28% were from cardiovascular disease (CVD), 4% from suicide and 8% from lung cancer
Summary
Urbanisation has seen a shift in the physical, social and cultural environments experienced by populations. In England, an estimated 80 per cent of the population lives in cities [1]. Understanding how the potentially adverse health effects of urban living might be mitigated provides a unique opportunity to improve public health. In this context, disease prevention strategies that target the environment rather than individuals have gained support over recent years [6,7]. Disease prevention strategies that target the environment rather than individuals have gained support over recent years [6,7] These approaches acknowledge the PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0119495. These approaches acknowledge the PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0119495 March 16, 2015
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
