scholarly journals Effects of Urban Green Space on Cardiovascular and Respiratory Biomarkers: a Panel Study Using Digital Tracking Devices in Chinese Adults (Preprint)

JMIR Cardio ◽  
10.2196/31316 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Yang ◽  
Ka Long Chan ◽  
John Yuen ◽  
Frances K.Y. Wong ◽  
Lefei Han ◽  
...  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Yang ◽  
Ka Long Chan ◽  
John Yuen ◽  
Frances K.Y. Wong ◽  
Lefei Han ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Health benefits of urban green space have been widely reported in literature, but the biological mechanisms remain unexplored and a causal relationship cannot be established between green space exposure and cardiorespiratory health. OBJECTIVE We conducted a panel study using personal tracking devices to continuously collect the individual exposure data in healthy Chinese adults aged 50 to 64 years living in Hong Kong. METHODS A panel of cardiorespiratory biomarkers were tested each week for a period of consecutive five weeks. Weekly exposure to green space, air pollution and physical activities of individual participants was collected by personal tracking devices. The effects of green space exposure measured by the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) at the buffer zones of 100-, 250- and 500-meters on a panel of cardiorespiratory biomarkers were estimated by a generalized linear mixed-effects model, with adjustment for confounding variables of sociodemographic characteristics, exposure to air pollutants and noise, exercises and nutrient intakes. RESULTS A total of 39 participants (mean age 56.4 years, range 50-63 years) were recruited and followed up for five consecutive weeks. After adjustment for sex, income, occupation, physical activities, dietary intake, noise and air pollution, significant negative associations with the 250m-buffer NDVI were found in total cholesterol (-21.6% per IQR increase in NDVI, 95% confidence interval (CI) -32.7%, -10.6%), low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C) (-14.9%, 95% CI -23.4%, -6.4%), glucose (-11.2%, 95% CI -21.9%, -0.5%) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) (-41.3%, 95% CI -81.7%, -0.9%). Similar effect estimates were found for the 100m- and 250m-buffer. After adjustment for multiple testing, the effect estimates of glucose and hs-CRP were no longer significant. CONCLUSIONS Health benefits of green space can be found in some metabolic and inflammatory biomarkers. Further studies are warranted to establish the causal relationship of green space and cardiorespiratory health. CLINICALTRIAL


Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 813
Author(s):  
Hui Dang ◽  
Jing Li ◽  
Yumeng Zhang ◽  
Zixiang Zhou

Urban green spaces can provide many types of ecosystem services for residents. An imbalance in the pattern of green spaces leads to an inequality of the benefits of such spaces. Given the current situation of environmental problems and the basic geographical conditions of Xi’an City, this study evaluated and mapped four kinds of ecosystem services from the perspective of equity: biodiversity, carbon sequestration, air purification, and climate regulation. Regionalization with dynamically constrained agglomerative clustering and partitioning (REDCAP) was used to obtain the partition groups of ecosystem services. The results indicate that first, the complexity of the urban green space community is low, and the level of biodiversity needs to be improved. The dry deposition flux of particulate matter (PM2.5) decreases from north to south, and green spaces enhance the adsorption of PM2.5. Carbon sequestration in the south and east is higher than that in the north and west, respectively. The average surface temperature in green spaces is lower than that in other urban areas. Second, urban green space resources in the study area are unevenly distributed. Therefore, ecosystem services in different areas are inequitable. Finally, based on the regionalization of integrated ecosystem services, an ecosystem services cluster was developed. This included 913 grid spaces, 12 partitions, and 5 clusters, which can provide a reference for distinct levels of ecosystem services management. This can assist urban managers who can use these indicators of ecosystem service levels for planning and guiding the overall development pattern of green spaces. The benefits would be a maximization of the ecological functions of green spaces, an improvement of the sustainable development of the city, and an improvement of people’s well-being.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konrad Uebel ◽  
Melissa Marselle ◽  
Angela J. Dean ◽  
Jonathan R. Rhodes ◽  
Aletta Bonn

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 341
Author(s):  
Ralf-Uwe Syrbe ◽  
Ina Neumann ◽  
Karsten Grunewald ◽  
Patrycia Brzoska ◽  
Jiři Louda ◽  
...  

The quality of life in our cities critically depends on the intelligent planning and shaping of urban living space, in particular urban nature. By providing a wide range of ecosystem services (ES), urban nature essentially contributes to the well-being of city dwellers and plays a major role in avoiding common diseases through its positive impact on physical and mental health. Health is one of the most important factors underlying human welfare and is, thus, vital to sustainable development. The ES of urban green space provide other social-cultural functions alongside public health, for example by fostering environmental justice and citizenship participation. Thus, they should always be considered when searching for solutions to urban problems. The aim of this research was to determine the impact of green areas in three selected cities on the health and well-being of people by self-reporting of green areas’ visitors. To this end, we posed the research question: which types and characteristics of urban green space are most appreciated by city dwellers? Based on our findings, we have drawn up recommendations for practices to promote better living conditions. We have also pinpointed obstacles to and opportunities for leisure time activities as well as ways of supporting the public health of citizens.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Yiyi Huang ◽  
Tao Lin ◽  
Guoqin Zhang ◽  
Yongguan Zhu ◽  
Zhiwei Zeng ◽  
...  

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