TY - JOUR
T1 - Green streets
T2 - Urban green and birth outcomes
AU - Abelt, Kathryn
AU - McLafferty, Sara
N1 - This study uses vital statistics birth records provided by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. We would like to thank Mei-Po Kwan and William Sullivan at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for their advice on communicating the results of our analyses.
PY - 2017/7/13
Y1 - 2017/7/13
N2 - Recent scholarship points to a protective association between green space and birth outcomes as well a positive relationship between blue space and wellbeing. We add to this body of literature by exploring the relationship between expectant mothers’ exposure to green and blue spaces and adverse birth outcomes in New York City. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), the NYC Street Tree Census, and access to major green spaces served as measures of greenness, while proximity to waterfront areas represented access to blue space. Associations between these factors and adverse birth outcomes, including preterm birth, term birthweight, term low birthweight, and small for gestational age, were evaluated via mixed-effects linear and logistic regression models. The analyses were conducted separately for women living in deprived neighborhoods to test for differential effects on mothers in these areas. The results indicate that women in deprived neighborhoods suffer from higher rates adverse birth outcomes and lower levels of residential greenness. In adjusted models, a significant inverse association between nearby street trees and the odds of preterm birth was found for all women. However, we did not identify a consistent significant relationship between adverse birth outcomes and NDVI, access to major green spaces, or waterfront access when individual covariates were taken into account.
AB - Recent scholarship points to a protective association between green space and birth outcomes as well a positive relationship between blue space and wellbeing. We add to this body of literature by exploring the relationship between expectant mothers’ exposure to green and blue spaces and adverse birth outcomes in New York City. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), the NYC Street Tree Census, and access to major green spaces served as measures of greenness, while proximity to waterfront areas represented access to blue space. Associations between these factors and adverse birth outcomes, including preterm birth, term birthweight, term low birthweight, and small for gestational age, were evaluated via mixed-effects linear and logistic regression models. The analyses were conducted separately for women living in deprived neighborhoods to test for differential effects on mothers in these areas. The results indicate that women in deprived neighborhoods suffer from higher rates adverse birth outcomes and lower levels of residential greenness. In adjusted models, a significant inverse association between nearby street trees and the odds of preterm birth was found for all women. However, we did not identify a consistent significant relationship between adverse birth outcomes and NDVI, access to major green spaces, or waterfront access when individual covariates were taken into account.
KW - Birth outcomes
KW - Blue space
KW - Green space
KW - Greenness
KW - Preterm birth
KW - Small for gestational age
KW - Street trees
KW - Term birthweight
KW - Term low birthweight
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85024112338&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85024112338&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph14070771
DO - 10.3390/ijerph14070771
M3 - Article
C2 - 28703756
AN - SCOPUS:85024112338
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 14
JO - International journal of environmental research and public health
JF - International journal of environmental research and public health
IS - 7
M1 - 771
ER -