Residential Surrounding Greenspace and Mental Health in Three Spanish Areas.

Maria Torres Toda,Payam Dadvand,Llúcia González-Safont,Mònica Guxens,Marisa Estarlich,Jordi Sunyer,Jordi Julvez,Marta Cirach,Ana Fernández-Somoano,Asier Anabitarte Riol,Isolina Riaño-Galán

doi:10.3390/ijerph17165670

Abstract

Exposure to greenspace has been related to improved mental health, but the available evidence is limited and findings are heterogeneous across different areas. We aimed to evaluate the associations between residential exposure to greenspace and specific psychopathological and psychosomatic symptoms related to mental health among mothers from a Spanish birth cohort. Our study was based on data from 1171 women participating in two follow-ups of a population-based cohort in Valencia, Sabadell, and Gipuzkoa (2004–2012). For each participant, residential surrounding greenspace was estimated as the average of the satellite-based Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) across different buffers around the residential address at the time of delivery and at the 4-year follow-up. The Symptom Checklist 90 Revised (SCL-90-R) was applied to characterize mental health at the 4-year follow-up. We developed mixed-effects logistic regression models controlled for relevant covariates to evaluate the associations. Higher residential surrounding greenspace was associated with a lower risk of somatization and anxiety symptoms. For General Severity Index (GSI), obsessive–compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism symptoms, we generally observed protective associations, but none attained statistical significance. Findings from this study suggested a potential positive impactof greenspace on mental health.

Highlights

IntroductionMental disorders are a major cause of non-fatal global burden of disease (GBD, [1])
Nowadays, mental disorders are a major cause of non-fatal global burden of disease (GBD, [1]).Around one in seven people globally (11–18%) has one or more mental disorders [1], and this proportion is projected to increase in the coming years [2]
2270 female participants were enrolled in the cohort across three areas, of whom 1171 (444 participants from Valencia, 475 from Sabadell and 252 from Gipuzkoa) were included in this current study

Summary

Introduction

Mental disorders are a major cause of non-fatal global burden of disease (GBD, [1]). Around one in seven people globally (11–18%) has one or more mental disorders [1], and this proportion is projected to increase in the coming years [2]. Anxiety and depression are the most common disorders [3]. Depression alone is the leading cause of mental health-related disease burden, affecting approximately 300 million people worldwide [4]. The majority of them are women who are twice as likely to develop depression and anxiety than men [5]. In Europe, it has been estimated that mental disorders, depression and anxiety, affect more than a third of the population every year [7]

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