Associations between Living Near Water and Risk of Mortality among Urban Canadians.

doi:10.1289/EHP3397

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Associations between Living Near Water and Risk of Mortality among Urban Canadians.

Journal Article•DOI•

Associations between Living Near Water and Risk of Mortality among Urban Canadians.

Dan L. Crouse¹, Adele Balram, Perry Hystad², Lauren Pinault³, Matilda van den Bosch⁴, Hong Chen⁵, Hong Chen⁶, Daniel Rainham⁷, Errol M. Thomson⁸, Christopher H. Close⁹, Aaron van Donkelaar⁷, Randall V. Martin⁷, Randall V. Martin¹⁰, Richard Ménard, Alain Robichaud, Paul J. Villeneuve¹¹ - Show less +12 more•Institutions (11)

University of New Brunswick¹, Oregon State University², Statistics Canada³, University of British Columbia⁴, University of Toronto⁵, York University⁶, Dalhousie University⁷, Health Canada⁸, Esri (Canada)⁹, Harvard University¹⁰, Carleton University¹¹

24 Jul 2018-Environmental Health Perspectives (Environmental Health Perspectives)-Vol. 126, Iss: 7, pp 077008-077008

TL;DR: The findings suggest that living near blue spaces in urban areas has important benefits to health, but further work is needed to better understand the drivers of this association.

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Abstract: Background: Increasing evidence suggests that residential exposures to natural environments, such as green spaces, are associated with many health benefits. Only a single study has examined the pot...

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Journal Article•DOI•

Air Pollution, Stress, and Allostatic Load: Linking Systemic and Central Nervous System Impacts.

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Errol M. Thomson¹•Institutions (1)

Health Canada¹

01 Jan 2019-Journal of Alzheimer's Disease

TL;DR: An overview of how systemic stress-dependent biological responses common to particulate matter and ozone may provide insight into early CNS effects of pollutants, including links with oxidative, inflammatory, and metabolic processes is provided.

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Abstract: Air pollution is a risk factor for cardiovascular and respiratory morbidity and mortality. A growing literature also links exposure to diverse air pollutants (e.g., nanoparticles, particulate matter, ozone, traffic-related air pollution) with brain health, including increased incidence of neurological and psychiatric disorders such as cognitive decline, dementia (including Alzheimer's disease), anxiety, depression, and suicide. A critical gap in our understanding of adverse impacts of pollutants on the central nervous system (CNS) is the early initiating events triggered by pollutant inhalation that contribute to disease progression. Recent experimental evidence has shown that particulate matter and ozone, two common pollutants with differing characteristics and reactivity, can activate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and release glucocorticoid stress hormones (cortisol in humans, corticosterone in rodents) as part of a neuroendocrine stress response. The brain is highly sensitive to stress: stress hormones affect cognition and mental health, and chronic stress can produce profound biochemical and structural changes in the brain. Chronic activation and/or dysfunction of the HPA axis also increases the burden on physiological stress response systems, conceptualized as allostatic load, and is a common pathway implicated in many diseases. The present paper provides an overview of how systemic stress-dependent biological responses common to particulate matter and ozone may provide insight into early CNS effects of pollutants, including links with oxidative, inflammatory, and metabolic processes. Evidence of pollutant effect modification by non-chemical stressors (e.g., socioeconomic position, psychosocial, noise), age (prenatal to elderly), and sex will also be reviewed in the context of susceptibility across the lifespan.

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140 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Air Pollution, Noise, Blue Space, and Green Space and Premature Mortality in Barcelona: A Mega Cohort

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Mark J. Nieuwenhuijsen¹, Mireia Gascon¹, David Martinez¹, Anna Ponjoan, Jordi Solé Blanch, Maria García-Gil, Rafael Ramos, Maria Foraster¹, Natalie Mueller¹, Ana Espinosa¹, Marta Cirach¹, Haneen Khreis, Payam Dadvand¹, Xavier Basagaña¹ - Show less +10 more•Institutions (1)

Pompeu Fabra University¹

30 Oct 2018-International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

TL;DR: In this large prospective study in an urban area, a decreased risk of all-cause mortality with an increase in green space measured as NDVI is found and increased risks of mortality with a increase in exposure to blue space are found.

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Abstract: Introduction: Cities often experience high air pollution and noise levels and lack of natural outdoor environments, which may be detrimental to health. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of air pollution, noise, and blue and green space on premature all-cause mortality in Barcelona using a mega cohort approach. Methods: Both men and women of 18 years and above registered on 1 January 2010 by the Sistema d’Informacio pel Desenvolupament de la Investigacio en Atencio Primaria (SIDIAP) and living in the city of Barcelona were included in the cohort and followed up until 31 December 2014 or until death (n = 2,939,067 person years). The exposure assessment was conducted at the census tract level (n = 1061). We assigned exposure to long term ambient levels of nitrogen dioxides (NO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 µm (PM2.5), between 2.5 µm and 10 µm (PM2.5–10, i.e., coarse particulate matter), less than 10 µm (PM10) and PM2.5 light absorption (hereafter referred to as PM2.5 absorbance) based on land use regressions models. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was assigned based on remote sensing data, percentage green space and blue space were calculated based on land use maps and modelled road traffic noise was available through the strategic noise map for Barcelona. Results: In this large prospective study (n = 792,649) in an urban area, we found a decreased risk of all-cause mortality with an increase in green space measured as NDVI (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.92, 95% CI 0.89–0.97 per 0.1) and increased risks of mortality with an increase in exposure to blue space (HR = 1.04, 95% CI 1.01–1.06 per 1%), NO2 (HR = 1.01, 95% CI 1.00–1.02 per 5 ug/m3) but no risk with noise (HR = 1.00, 95% CI 0.98–1.02 per 5 dB(A)). The increased risks appeared to be more pronounced in the more deprived areas. Results for NDVI, and to a lesser extent NO2, remained most consistent after mutual adjustment for other exposures. The NDVI estimate was a little attenuated when NO2 was included in the model. The study had some limitations including e.g., the assessment of air pollution, noise, green space and socioeconomic status (SES) on census tract level rather than individual level and residual confounding. Conclusion: This large study provides new insights on the relationship between green and blue space, noise and air pollution and premature all-cause mortality.

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69 citations

Cites background or result from "Associations between Living Near Wa..."

...As in the large mega cohort studies evaluating green space and mortality in Canada and Switzerland [18–20], we found a reduction in the risk of all-cause mortality with increasing NDVI....
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...Recently, a number of so called mega cohorts have started to evaluate relationships: between air pollution and mortality in the Netherlands [11], Italy [12], England [13], the US [14], and China [15]; between noise and mortality in the UK [8] and in Switzerland [16,17]; between blue space and mortality in Canada [18]; and between green space and mortality in Canada [18,19] and in Switzerland, the latter taking into account noise and air pollution as well [20]....
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...In contrast to a previous study in Canada [10], where they found a decreased risk, we observed an increased risk in premature mortality with blue space....
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...Long term exposure to traffic related air pollution [6,7] and noise [8] and the lack of green space [9] or blue space [10] exposure has been associated with premature all-cause mortality in independent studies....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Coastal proximity and mental health among urban adults in England: The moderating effect of household income.

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Joanne K. Garrett¹, Theodore J. Clitherow¹, Mathew P. White¹, Benedict W. Wheeler¹, Lora E. Fleming¹ - Show less +1 more•Institutions (1)

Royal Cornwall Hospital¹

01 Sep 2019-Health & Place

TL;DR: The contention that, for urban adults, coastal settings may help to reduce health inequalities in England is supported, as living ≤1 km from the coast was associated with better mental health as measured by the GHQ12.

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60 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Urban blue spaces and human health: A systematic review and meta-analysis of quantitative studies

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Niamh Smith¹, Michail Georgiou¹, Abby C. King², Zoë Tieges³, Zoë Tieges¹, Stephen Webb¹, Sebastien F. M. Chastin⁴, Sebastien F. M. Chastin¹ - Show less +4 more•Institutions (4)

Glasgow Caledonian University¹, Stanford University², University of Edinburgh³, Ghent University⁴

01 Dec 2021-Cities

TL;DR: This is the first quantitative synthesis of the health impacts of urban blue spaces and a beneficial association between urban blue space and obesity is found.

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38 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

The longitudinal association between natural outdoor environments and mortality in 9218 older men from Perth, Western Australia

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Wilma L. Zijlema¹, Ania Stasinska², David Blake³, Mila Dirgawati², Leon Flicker², Bu B. Yeap², Jonathan Golledge⁴, Graeme J. Hankey², Mark J. Nieuwenhuijsen¹, Jane Heyworth² - Show less +6 more•Institutions (4)

Pompeu Fabra University¹, University of Western Australia², Edith Cowan University³, James Cook University⁴

10 Feb 2019-Environment International

TL;DR: Evidence suggestive of an association between access to natural spaces and decreased mortality is observed, and associations with waterbodies were inconsistent, showing non-linear beneficial and harmful associations.

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28 citations

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Journal Article•DOI•

Systematic Review: Process of Forming Academic Service Partnerships to Reform Clinical Education

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Fatemeh Heshmati Nabavi¹, Zohreh Vanaki¹, Eesa Mohammadi¹•Institutions (1)

Tarbiat Modares University¹

01 Feb 2012-Western Journal of Nursing Research

TL;DR: This study’s findings can provide practical guidelines to steer partnership programs within the academic and clinical bodies, with the aim of providing a collaborative partnership approach to clinical education.

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Abstract: The aim of our systematic review was to retrieve and integrate relevant evidence related to the process of formation and implementation of the academic–service partnership, with the aim of reformin...

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41,134 citations

"Associations between Living Near Wa..." refers background in this paper

...Systematic reviews (Bowler et al. 2010b; Gascon et al. 2017) have shown that the evidence for an effect of blue space exposure on most health outcomes, such as self-reported general health, mental health, physical activity, obesity, and cardiovascular-related conditions, is either inconsistent or…...
[...]
...…and greenspace (e.g., parks or other natural areas) have suggested benefits to health through various pathways, including stress reduction (Bowler et al. 2010b; Gascon et al. 2018), improved immunoregulation (Rook 2013), increased physical activity (Sallis et al. 2016), and increased…...
[...]
...Natural environments also benefit health by regulating ecosystem services, such as by reducing urban heat exposure (Bowler et al. 2010a) and improving air (Nowak et al. 2014) and water quality (Livesley et al. 2016)....
[...]

Journal Article•DOI•

An Introduction to Propensity Score Methods for Reducing the Effects of Confounding in Observational Studies

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Peter C. Austin¹•Institutions (1)

University of Toronto¹

09 Jun 2011-Multivariate Behavioral Research

TL;DR: The propensity score is a balancing score: conditional on the propensity score, the distribution of observed baseline covariates will be similar between treated and untreated subjects, and different causal average treatment effects and their relationship with propensity score analyses are described.

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Abstract: The propensity score is the probability of treatment assignment conditional on observed baseline characteristics. The propensity score allows one to design and analyze an observational (nonrandomized) study so that it mimics some of the particular characteristics of a randomized controlled trial. In particular, the propensity score is a balancing score: conditional on the propensity score, the distribution of observed baseline covariates will be similar between treated and untreated subjects. I describe 4 different propensity score methods: matching on the propensity score, stratification on the propensity score, inverse probability of treatment weighting using the propensity score, and covariate adjustment using the propensity score. I describe balance diagnostics for examining whether the propensity score model has been adequately specified. Furthermore, I discuss differences between regression-based methods and propensity score-based methods for the analysis of observational data. I describe different causal average treatment effects and their relationship with propensity score analyses.

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7,895 citations

"Associations between Living Near Wa..." refers methods in this paper

...For this reason, we performed a matched cohort analysis, which allows for reducing selection bias and approximating a randomized trial (Austin 2011)....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Nature and Health

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Terry Hartig¹, Richard Mitchell, Sjerp de Vries², Howard Frumkin³•Institutions (3)

Uppsala University¹, Wageningen University and Research Centre², University of Washington³

18 Mar 2014-Annual Review of Public Health

TL;DR: This work focuses on nature as represented by aspects of the physical environment relevant to planning, design, and policy measures that serve broad segments of urbanized societies and considers research on pathways between nature and health involving air quality, physical activity, social cohesion, and stress reduction.

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Abstract: Urbanization, resource exploitation, and lifestyle changes have diminished possibilities for human contact with nature in many societies. Concern about the loss has helped motivate research on the health benefits of contact with nature. Reviewing that research here, we focus on nature as represented by aspects of the physical environment relevant to planning, design, and policy measures that serve broad segments of urbanized societies. We discuss difficulties in defining “nature” and reasons for the current expansion of the research field, and we assess available reviews. We then consider research on pathways between nature and health involving air quality, physical activity, social cohesion, and stress reduction. Finally, we discuss methodological issues and priorities for future research. The extant research does describe an array of benefits of contact with nature, and evidence regarding some benefits is strong; however, some findings indicate caution is needed in applying beliefs about those benefits,...

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2,046 citations

"Associations between Living Near Wa..." refers background in this paper

...A growing body of literature has demonstrated positive associations between exposures to natural environments (mostly green spaces) and health (Hartig et al. 2014; van den Bosch and Ode Sang 2017), but few studies have looked at associations with exposures to blue spaces (e....
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...A growing body of literature has demonstrated positive associations between exposures to natural environments (mostly green spaces) and health (Hartig et al. 2014; van den Bosch and Ode Sang 2017), but few studies have looked at associations with exposures to blue spaces (e.g., rivers, lakes,…...
[...]

Journal Article•DOI•

Urban greening to cool towns and cities: a systematic review of the empirical evidence.

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Diana E. Bowler¹, Lisette M Buyung-Ali¹, Teri M. Knight¹, Andrew S. Pullin¹•Institutions (1)

Bangor University¹

15 Sep 2010-Landscape and Urban Planning

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used systematic review methodology to evaluate available evidence on whether greening interventions, such as tree planting or the creation of parks or green roofs, affect the air temperature of an urban area.

...read moreread less

1,822 citations

"Associations between Living Near Wa..." refers background in this paper

...Systematic reviews (Bowler et al. 2010b; Gascon et al. 2017) have shown that the evidence for an effect of blue space exposure on most health outcomes, such as self-reported general health, mental health, physical activity, obesity, and cardiovascular-related conditions, is either inconsistent or…...
[...]
...…and greenspace (e.g., parks or other natural areas) have suggested benefits to health through various pathways, including stress reduction (Bowler et al. 2010b; Gascon et al. 2018), improved immunoregulation (Rook 2013), increased physical activity (Sallis et al. 2016), and increased…...
[...]
...Natural environments also benefit health by regulating ecosystem services, such as by reducing urban heat exposure (Bowler et al. 2010a) and improving air (Nowak et al. 2014) and water quality (Livesley et al. 2016)....
[...]

Journal Article•DOI•

A systematic review of evidence for the added benefits to health of exposure to natural environments

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Diana E. Bowler¹, Lisette M Buyung-Ali¹, Teri M. Knight¹, Andrew S. Pullin¹•Institutions (1)

Bangor University¹

04 Aug 2010-BMC Public Health

TL;DR: It is suggestive that natural environments may have direct and positive impacts on well-being, but support the need for investment in further research on this question to understand the general significance for public health.

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Abstract: There is increasing interest in the potential role of the natural environment in human health and well-being. However, the evidence-base for specific and direct health or well-being benefits of activity within natural compared to more synthetic environments has not been systematically assessed. We conducted a systematic review to collate and synthesise the findings of studies that compare measurements of health or well-being in natural and synthetic environments. Effect sizes of the differences between environments were calculated and meta-analysis used to synthesise data from studies measuring similar outcomes. Twenty-five studies met the review inclusion criteria. Most of these studies were crossover or controlled trials that investigated the effects of short-term exposure to each environment during a walk or run. This included 'natural' environments, such as public parks and green university campuses, and synthetic environments, such as indoor and outdoor built environments. The most common outcome measures were scores of different self-reported emotions. Based on these data, a meta-analysis provided some evidence of a positive benefit of a walk or run in a natural environment in comparison to a synthetic environment. There was also some support for greater attention after exposure to a natural environment but not after adjusting effect sizes for pretest differences. Meta-analysis of data on blood pressure and cortisol concentrations found less evidence of a consistent difference between environments across studies. Overall, the studies are suggestive that natural environments may have direct and positive impacts on well-being, but support the need for investment in further research on this question to understand the general significance for public health.

...read moreread less

1,391 citations

"Associations between Living Near Wa..." refers background in this paper

...Systematic reviews (Bowler et al. 2010b; Gascon et al. 2017) have shown that the evidence for an effect of blue space exposure on most health outcomes, such as self-reported general health, mental health, physical activity, obesity, and cardiovascular-related conditions, is either inconsistent or…...
[...]
...…and greenspace (e.g., parks or other natural areas) have suggested benefits to health through various pathways, including stress reduction (Bowler et al. 2010b; Gascon et al. 2018), improved immunoregulation (Rook 2013), increased physical activity (Sallis et al. 2016), and increased…...
[...]
...Natural environments also benefit health by regulating ecosystem services, such as by reducing urban heat exposure (Bowler et al. 2010a) and improving air (Nowak et al. 2014) and water quality (Livesley et al. 2016)....
[...]