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- Dzhambov, Angel M., et al.
(författare)
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Multiple pathways link urban green- and bluespace to mental health in young adults
- 2018
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Ingår i: Environmental Research. - : Elsevier. - 0013-9351 .- 1096-0953. ; 166, s. 223-233
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: A growing body of scientific literature indicates that urban green- and bluespace support mental health; however, little research has attempted to address the complexities in likely interrelations among the pathways through which benefits plausibly are realized. Objectives: The present study examines how different plausible pathways between green/bluespace and mental health can work together. Both objective and perceived measures of green- and bluespace are used in these models. Methods: We sampled 720 students from the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Residential greenspace was measured in terms of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), tree cover density, percentage of green areas, and Euclidean distance to the nearest green space. Bluespace was measured in terms of its presence in the neighborhood and the Euclidean distance to the nearest bluespace. Mental health was measured with the 12-item form of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). The following mediators were considered: perceived neighborhood green/bluespace, restorative quality of the neighborhood, social cohesion, physical activity, noise and air pollution, and environmental annoyance. Structural equation modelling techniques were used to analyze the data. Results: Higher NDVI within a 300 m buffer around the residence was associated with better mental health through higher perceived greenspace; through higher perceived greenspace, leading to increased restorative quality, and subsequently to increased physical activity (i.e., serial mediation); through lower noise exposure, which in turn was associated with lower annoyance; and through higher perceived greenspace, which was associated with lower annoyance. Presence of bluespace within a 300 m buffer did not have a straightforward association with mental health owing to competitive indirect paths: one supporting mental health through higher perceived bluespace, restorative quality, and physical activity; and another engendering mental ill-health through higher noise exposure and annoyance. Conclusions: We found evidence that having more greenspace near the residence supported mental health through several indirect pathways with serial components. Conversely, bluespace was not clearly associated with mental health.
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| 2. |
- Dzhambov, Angel, et al.
(författare)
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Urban residential greenspace and mental health in youth : Different approaches to testing multiple pathways yield different conclusions
- 2018
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Ingår i: Environmental Research. - : Elsevier BV. - 0013-9351 .- 1096-0953. ; 160, s. 47-59
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Urban greenspace can benefit mental health through multiple mechanisms. They may work together, but previous studies have treated them as independent.Objectives: We aimed to compare single and parallel mediation models, which estimate the independent contributions of different paths, to several models that posit serial mediation components in the pathway from greenspace to mental health.Methods: We collected cross-sectional survey data from 399 participants (15-25 years of age) in the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Objective "exposure" to urban residential greenspace was defined by the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index, tree cover density within the 500-m buffer, and Euclidean distance to the nearest urban greenspace. Self-reported measures of availability, access, quality, and usage of greenspace were also used. Mental health was measured with the General Health Questionnaire. The following potential mediators were considered in single and parallel mediation models: restorative quality of the neighborhood, neighborhood social cohesion, commuting and leisure time physical activity, road traffic noise annoyance, and perceived air pollution. Four models were tested with the following serial mediation components: (1) restorative quality -> social cohesion; (2) restorative quality -> physical activity; (3) perceived traffic pollution -> restorative quality; (4) and noise annoyance -> physical activity.Results: There was no direct association between objectively-measured greenspace and mental health. For the 500-m buffer, the tests of the single mediator models suggested that restorative quality mediated the relationship between NDVI and mental health. Tests of parallel mediation models did not find any significant indirect effects. In line with theory, tests of the serial mediation models showed that higher restorative quality was associated with more physical activity and more social cohesion, and in turn with better mental health. As for self-reported greenspace measures, single mediation through restorative quality was significant only for time in greenspace, and there was no mediation though restorative quality in the parallel mediation models; however, serial mediation through restorative quality and social cohesion/physical activity was indicated for all self-reported measures except for greenspace quality.Conclusions: Statistical models should adequately address the theoretically indicated interdependencies between mechanisms underlying association between greenspace and mental health. If such causal relationships hold, testing mediators alone or in parallel may lead to incorrect inferences about the relative contribution of specific paths, and thus to inappropriate intervention strategies.
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| 3. |
- Fuertes, Elaine, et al.
(författare)
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Residential air pollution does not modify the positive association between physical activity and lung function in current smokers in the ECRHS study
- 2018
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Ingår i: Environment International. - : Elsevier. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750. ; 120, s. 364-372
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Very few studies have examined whether a long-term beneficial effect of physical activity on lung function can be influenced by living in polluted urban areas.OBJECTIVE: We assessed whether annual average residential concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters < 2.5 μm (PM2.5) and <10 μm (PM10) modify the effect of physical activity on lung function among never- (N = 2801) and current (N = 1719) smokers in the multi-center European Community Respiratory Health Survey.METHODS: Associations between repeated assessments (at 27-57 and 39-67 years) of being physically active (physical activity: ≥2 times and ≥1 h per week) and forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC) were evaluated using adjusted mixed linear regression models. Models were conducted separately for never- and current smokers and stratified by residential long-term NO2, PM2.5 mass and PM10 mass concentrations (≤75th percentile (low/medium) versus >75th percentile (high)).RESULTS: Among current smokers, physical activity and lung function were positively associated regardless of air pollution levels. Among never-smokers, physical activity was associated with lung function in areas with low/medium NO2, PM2.5 mass and PM10 mass concentrations (e.g. mean difference in FVC between active and non-active subjects was 43.0 mL (13.6, 72.5), 49.5 mL (20.1, 78.8) and 49.7 mL (18.6, 80.7), respectively), but these associations were attenuated in high air pollution areas. Only the interaction term of physical activity and PM10 mass for FEV1 among never-smokers was significant (p-value = 0.03).CONCLUSIONS: Physical activity has beneficial effects on adult lung function in current smokers, irrespective of residential air pollution levels in Western Europe. Trends among never-smokers living in high air pollution areas are less clear.
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| 4. |
- Johannessen, Ane, et al.
(författare)
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Long-term air pollution exposure is associated with sick leave 20 years later
- 2018
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Ingår i: European Respiratory Journal. - : European Respiratory Society. - 0903-1936 .- 1399-3003. ; 52
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: Little is known on outdoor air pollution in a long-term perspective and societal costs such as sick leave. In the Nordic countries, recent pollution health impact assessments have had to rely on outdated studies.Aims: To investigate if air pollution exposure is associated with sick leave 20 years later.Methods: We analysed self-reported sick leave (all-cause and respiratory) in 7 466 subjects from Bergen, Gothenburg, Umea, Uppsala in the RHINE3 study in 2010-12. Home addresses were geocoded and linked to annual average concentrations of PM2.5, PM10 and NO2 at RHINE3, 10 years earlier and 20 years earlier, using existing land-use regression (LUR) models. We performed multilevel logistic regression clustered by centre, and adjusted for sex, smoking, education and previous health-related workplace change.Results: Age range in RHINE3 was 40-66 yrs, 34% and 4% reported all-cause and respiratory sick leave during the last year. In the adjusted analyses all-cause sick leave was associated with PM2.520 years earlier (OR per interquartile range (IQR) difference (2.6 µg/m³) 1.12 (95%CI 1.01, 1.24)), and borderline with NO2 (OR per IQR diff (8.1 µg/m³) 1.09 (95%CI 0.99, 1.19)). Respiratory sick leave was associated with PM10 20 years earlier (OR per IQR diff (3.92 µg/m³) 1.54 (95%CI 1.06, 2.25)), and borderline with PM2.5 (OR per IQR diff 1.31 (95%CI 0.97, 1.76)). Pollution exposures at present as well as 10 years earlier were not significantly associated with sick leave.Conclusions: Air pollution exposure in a general population is associated with sick leave in a 20-year perspective. Our findings suggest that even low air pollution levels such as in Northern Europe have societal costs over time.
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| 5. |
- Kuiper, Ingrid Nordeide, et al.
(författare)
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Lung health in adulthood after childhood exposure to air pollution and greenness
- 2018
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Ingår i: European Respiratory Journal. - : European Respiratory Society. - 0903-1936 .- 1399-3003. ; 52
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: Little is known on childhood exposure to air pollution and adult chronic respiratory outcomes.Aim: To investigate associations between air pollution and greenness in childhood and adult lung health.Methods: In selected centres of the RHINESSA study (age 18-52) we analysed the outcomes respiratory symptoms (≥3 symptoms), severe wheeze (wheeze last year with breathlessness, no cold) and late onset asthma (>10 years). We calculated mean annual exposures of PM2.5, PM10, NO2 (µg/m³) and greenness (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, 100m buffer) from offspring's birth till age 18, categorised into mean exposure <10 years and 11-18 years. We performed multilevel logistic regression clustered by family, stratified by centre and adjusted for childhood passive smoke and parental asthma.Results: 12% had ≥3 respiratory symptoms, 7.7% severe wheeze, and 9.4% late onset asthma. Overall estimates: greenness was associated with less respiratory symptoms, PM2.5 and NO2 with more late onset asthma. Exposure <10 years: Greenness was associated with less wheeze in Tartu (OR 0.29, 95%CI 0.11-0.73). PM2.5 (OR 1.22, 95%CI 1.00-1.48) and NO2 (OR 1.06, 95%CI 1.01-1.11) were risk factors for late onset asthma in Bergen. PM10 was a risk factor for respiratory symptoms (OR 1.21, 95%CI 1.04-1.41) in Uppsala and late onset asthma (OR 1.23, 95%CI 1.02-1.45) in Bergen. Exposure 11-18 years: Greenness was protective for respiratory symptoms (OR 0.29, 95%CI 0.10-0.86) and wheeze (OR 0.39, 95%CI 0.19-0.80) in Tartu.Conclusions: Childhood exposure to greenness was associated with less respiratory symptoms, while air pollutants were associated with more respiratory symptoms (some centres) and late onset asthma.
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