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Urban Green Space and Its Impact on Human Health

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 ex...

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Autores principales: Kondo, Michelle C., Fluehr, Jaime M., McKeon, Thomas, Branas, Charles C.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5876990/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29510520
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15030445
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author Kondo, Michelle C.
Fluehr, Jaime M.
McKeon, Thomas
Branas, Charles C.
author_facet Kondo, Michelle C.
Fluehr, Jaime M.
McKeon, Thomas
Branas, Charles C.
author_sort Kondo, Michelle C.
collection PubMed
description 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.
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spelling pubmed-58769902018-04-09 Urban Green Space and Its Impact on Human Health Kondo, Michelle C. Fluehr, Jaime M. McKeon, Thomas Branas, Charles C. Int J Environ Res Public Health Review 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. MDPI 2018-03-03 2018-03 /pmc/articles/PMC5876990/ /pubmed/29510520 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15030445 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Kondo, Michelle C.
Fluehr, Jaime M.
McKeon, Thomas
Branas, Charles C.
Urban Green Space and Its Impact on Human Health
title Urban Green Space and Its Impact on Human Health
title_full Urban Green Space and Its Impact on Human Health
title_fullStr Urban Green Space and Its Impact on Human Health
title_full_unstemmed Urban Green Space and Its Impact on Human Health
title_short Urban Green Space and Its Impact on Human Health
title_sort urban green space and its impact on human health
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5876990/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29510520
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15030445
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