An ecological study investigating the… | Healthy Trees, Healthy Lives

An ecological study investigating the association between access to urban greenspace and mental health

This study found that decreased distance to useable greenspace and increased proportion of greenspace within the larger neighbourhood were associated with decreased anxiety/mood disorder treatment counts in an urban environment.

Nutsford, Pearson and Kingham.

Public Health, 127(11), Nov. 2013, pp. 1005-1011

Every 1% increase in the proportion of useable or total greenspace was associated with a 4% lower anxiety/mood disorder treatment. Distance to nearest useable greenspace was also associated with anxiety/mood disorder treatment. The authors found 3% lower anxiety/mood disorder treatment for every 100 m decrease in distance to the nearest useable greenspace. Anxiety/mood disorder treatment counts were associated with three greenspace measures. The proportion of both total and useable greenspace within 3 km and distance to nearest useablegreenspace all indicated a protective effect of increased access to greenspace against anxiety/mood disorder treatment counts. Access to total and useable greenspace within 300 m did not exhibit significant associations.