You are here:
The association of outdoor vegetation with ADHD-related behavior among children living in an urban community
Citation:
Yazdy, M., J. Hart, K. Bush, L. Jackson, A. Mackey, A. Wilson, AND S. Korrick. The association of outdoor vegetation with ADHD-related behavior among children living in an urban community. Internat'l Society for Environmental Epidemiology, Rome, ITALY, September 01 - 04, 2016.
Impact/Purpose:
To communicate urban eco-health research results at the main society currently addressing this issue.
Description:
Introduction: Emerging research supports potential benefits of green space on children's behavior. Methods: We evaluated the cross-sectional association of outdoor vegetation (OV) and distance to parks with ADHD-like behavior in 560 eight-year-olds from a prospective, sociodemographically diverse birth cohort in southeastern, MA. ADHD-like behavior was measured with the Conners' Rating Scale (CRS) for Teachers standardized to a mean (SD) score of 50 (10); higher values signify more adverse behavior. Using high-resolution aerial imagery, we calculated percent OV and percent tree cover within 50 and 500m of each child's home and school. Distance to parks was determined with GIS and local park databases.Results: Percent OV near the home was higher for children whose mothers were older, more educated, married, wealthier, non-Hispanic white race, and who did not use cigarettes or alcohol in pregnancy. In unadjusted models, an interquartile range increase in OV surrounding the home was associated with better CRS DSM-IV ADHD scores, -2.80 (95%CI: -4.28, -1.45) and -2.79 (95%CI: -4.36, -1.23), for 50 and 500m buffers respectively. However, effect estimates were attenuated substantially with control for sociodemographics, 0.39 (95%CI: -1.24, 2.01) and 0.45 (95%CI: -1.35, 2.24), for respective 50 and 500m buffers. Results were similar for other ADHD-related outcomes, tree cover only, and in models of OV near school. There was no clear evidence of benefit from proximity to parks.Conclusions: In this diverse cohort, the association between nearby OV and childhood ADHD-like behavior was highly confounded by measures of socioeconomic status such that there was no evidence of an independent protective effect of OV on behavior. Future research will explore potential interactions between sociodemographics and OV. Our findings support the importance of careful consideration of population and community characteristics in assessment of health benefits of green space in future studies. This research has been reviewed and approved by EPA; it does not necessarily reflect Agency policy.