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. 2023 Jan:79:102960.
doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2022.102960. Epub 2023 Jan 3.

Neighborhood greenspace and cognition: The cardiovascular health study

Sara L Godina  1 , Andrea L Rosso  2 , Jana A Hirsch  3 , Lilah M Besser  4 , Gina S Lovasi  3 , Geoffrey H Donovan  5 , Parveen K Garg  6 , Jonathan M Platt  7 , Annette L Fitzpatrick  8 , Oscar L Lopez  9 , Michelle C Carlson  10 , Yvonne L Michael  3
Affiliations

Neighborhood greenspace and cognition: The cardiovascular health study

Sara L Godina et al. Health Place. 2023 Jan.

Abstract

Objectives: We examined whether greenspace measures (overall percent greenspace and forest, and number of greenspace types) were associated with clinically adjudicated dementia status.

Methods: In a sample of non-demented older adults (n = 2141, average age = 75.3 years) from the Cardiovascular Health and Cognition Study, Cox proportional hazard and logistic regression analyses were used to estimate associations of baseline greenspace with risks of incident dementia and MCI, respectively, while adjusting for demographics, co-morbidities, and other neighborhood factors. We derived quartiles of percent greenness (greenspace), forest (percent tree canopy cover), and tertiles of greenspace diversity (number of greenspace types) for 5-km radial buffers around participant's residences at study entry (1989-1990) from the 1992 National Land Cover Dataset. Dementia status and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) over 10 years was clinically adjudicated.

Results: We observed no significant association between overall percent greenspace and risk of mild cognitive impairment or dementia and mostly null results for forest and greenspace diversity. Forest greenspace was associated with lower odds of MCI (OR quartile 4 versus 1: 0.54, 95% CI: 0.29-0.98) and greenspace diversity was associated with lower hazard of incident dementia (HR tertile 2 versus 1: 0.70, 95% CI = 0.50-0.99).

Discussion: We found divergent results for different types of greenspace and mild cognitive impairment or dementia. Improved greenspace type and diversity measurement could better characterize the association between greenspace and cognition.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Environment; Epidemiology.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest No conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flow chart of selection of included participants (n = 2,141), the Cardiovascular Health and Cognition Study, United States, 1992–1993 (n=2,141)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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