Exploring pathways linking greenspace to health: Theoretical and methodological guidance.

A growing body of empirical evidence is revealing the value of nature experience for mental health. With rapid urbanization and declines in human contact with nature globally, crucial decisions must be made about how to preserve and enhance opportunities for nature experience. Here, we first provide points of consensus across the natural, social, and health sciences on the impacts of nature experience on cognitive functioning, emotional well-being, and other dimensions of mental health. We then show how ecosystem service assessments can be expanded to include mental health, and provide a heuristic, conceptual model for doing so.

Nature and mental health: An ecosystem service perspective.

Background: At a time of increasing disconnectedness from nature, scientific interest in the potential health benefits of nature contact has grown. Research in recent decades has yielded substantia...

https://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/journals/pnw_2017_frumkin001.pdf

Nature Contact and Human Health: A Research Agenda

Background: Over half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas, and this proportion is expected to increase. While there have been numerous reviews of empirical studies on the link between nature and human health, very few have focused on the urban context, and most have examined almost exclusively cross-sectional research. This review is a first step toward assessing the possibility of causal relationships between nature and health in urban settings. Methods: Through systematic review of published literature, we explored the association between urban green space and human health. Results: We found consistent negative association between urban green space exposure and mortality, heart rate, and violence, and positive association with attention, mood, and physical activity. Results were mixed, or no association was found, in studies of urban green space exposure and general health, weight status, depression, and stress (via cortisol concentration). The number of studies was too low to generalize about birth outcomes, blood pressure, heart rate variability, cancer, diabetes, or respiratory symptoms. Conclusions: More studies using rigorous study design are needed to make generalizations, and meta-analyses, of these and other health outcomes possible. These findings may assist urban managers, organizations, and communities in their efforts to increase new or preserve existing green space.

https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/3/445/pdf

Urban Green Space and Its Impact on Human Health

http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/bitstream/2445/99572/1/gascon2015_2007.pdf

Residential green spaces and mortality: A systematic review.

Some authors suggest that space weather events may affect daily weather variables, such as air temperature and atmospheric pressure. Associations between space weather events and daily weather variables have been analyzed in four Baltic airports near Kaunas, Vilnius, Riga, and Tallinn during 2000–2016. We hypothesized that space weather events, 1–5 days before or after them, and intersection days (1–5 days after the event, which coincided with 1–5 days before the event) might be associated with changes in the daily weather variables. The effects of space weather were analyzed by using multivariate linear regression adjusting for the month, the linear trend, the QBO phase, and the NAO index. In all the studied cities, higher daily mean air temperature (T) was observed both during the period of 1–3 days before—1–4 days after high-speed solar wind (HSSW) (β > 1.8, p 10 MeV energy flux >10 pfu (β > 1.9, p 1000 pfu was related to lower T, relative humidity (RH), and WS, and higher ATP in all cities (p < 0.001 in all cases). In Northern airports, RH tended to be lower during geomagnetic storms (GS) or GS intersection days (p < 0.01). Such space weather events as HSSW and SPE may be associated with short-term changes in weather variables.

Statistical association between space weather and meteorological variables during winter in the Baltic sea region

In a time series studies, air pollution was associated with specific cardiovascular mortality, but little is known about the short-term nitrogen dioxide (NO2) effects on acute heart attack risk. The objective of the study was to estimate association between NO2 exposure and emergency hospital admission for myocardial infarction and unstable angina pectoris in Kaunas within 2005-2006 periods. Associations were assessed using the case-crossover method and multivariate logistic regression. Mean daily levels of NO2 were related to the daily number of hospital admissions for heart attack. The relative risk for increase of heart attack admissions, evaluated at NO2 tertiles of day of admission and 2 days prior to the data of admissions were as follows: 1; 2.22, 95% CI 1.32-3.76; 2.84, 95% CI 1.70-4.77 and 1; 1.70, 95% CI 1.03-2.82; 2.10, 95% CI 1.27-3.45. The hospital admission odds ratios for each 10µg/m 3 increase in NO2 level was associated with a risk of heart attack admissions of 28% (OR=1.28, 95% CI 1.11-1.48; p<0.001). These findings suggest that higher ambient NO2 levels might bee associated with increase of heart attack risk.

The association between short-term nitrogen dioxide pollution and emergency hospital admission for heart attack in kaunas

The environment has a significant impact on a person’s general well-being. Distance to green space has been found to be an important factor influencing health. Urban green spaces enhance people’s quality of life and physical and mental health. According to recent research, living near green space may reduce one’s risk of developing cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, as well as other harmful health issues. In this study, the health data was collected in 2007– 2009 in Kaunas, Lithuania. The study participants (144) randomly were divided into two groups, control, and trained groups. Long-term aerobic physical training was applied to the exposure group. General clinical, echocardiography, and spiroergometry parameters were evaluated for the study participants. Greenness was estimated from satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in zones with radii of 1 km, 1.5 km, and 2 km surrounding the participants’ residences. To assess the effect of greenness on the effects of rehabilitation, changes in health indicators during a period of 6 months in the groups of low/high greenness environment were presented separately for participants in control and training group. For this purpose, the paired t-test was used. For changes in patient characteristics, the effect of greenness within a radius of 1.5 km was stronger, also the effect within a radius of 1 km was similar. It was discovered that in the trained group, people who lived in high greenness experienced the best increases in the distance walked over the course of six minutes (6 MWT) and a decrease in the mean heart rate. Spiroergometry indication improvements were notable and more pronounced for residents of high greenness areas. After 6 months, a decrease in echocardiographic indicators was found when living in low greenness. Living in low greenness was found to raise diastolic blood pressure and reduce 6 MWT in the control group. Only the control group’s ejection fraction was non-significant alterations in the low greenness environment. It can be concluded that greater greenness, according to NDVI, may lead to better rehabilitation outcomes for heart failure patients undergoing an aerobic exercise training program.

/pdf/relationship-between-greenness-and-health-indicators-in-2zbpxa9b.pdf

Relationship between Greenness and Health Indicators in Urban Patients with Heart Failure

The aim of this study was to identify associations of the parameters of heart rate variability (HRV) with the variations in geomagnetic activity (GMA), solar wind, and cosmic ray intensity (CRI) in patients after coronary artery bypass grafting or valve surgery in Kaunas, Lithuania, during 2008–2012. The data from 5-minute electrocardiograms (ECGs) in 220 patients were used. ECGs were carried out at 1.5 months, 1 year, and 2 years after the surgery (N = 495). A lower (higher) very-low-frequency-band (VLF) and a higher (lower) high-frequency band (HF) in normalised units (n.u.) were associated with a low maximal daily 3-hourly ap (the DST index > 1). A lower mean standard deviation of beat-to-beat intervals (SDNN) and VLF, LF, and HF powers were lower in patients when Ap < 8 occurred two days after the surgery, and a low solar wind speed (SWS) occurred two days before the ECG. The effect of CRI was non-significant if the linear trend was included in the model. Low GMA and a low SWS may effect some HRV variables in patients after open-heart surgery. The GMA during the surgery may affect the SDNN in short-term ECG during the longer period.

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/13/8/1330/pdf?version=1661084669

Statistical Associations between Geomagnetic Activity, Solar Wind, Cosmic Ray Intensity, and Heart Rate Variability in Patients after Open-Heart Surgery

Jone Vencloviene

Papers

Statistical association between space weather and meteorological variables during winter in the Baltic sea region

The association between short-term nitrogen dioxide pollution and emergency hospital admission for heart attack in kaunas

Relationship between Greenness and Health Indicators in Urban Patients with Heart Failure

Statistical Associations between Geomagnetic Activity, Solar Wind, Cosmic Ray Intensity, and Heart Rate Variability in Patients after Open-Heart Surgery