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Gina Schellenbaum Lovasi, James W Quinn, Kathryn M Neckerman, Matthew S Perzanowski, and Andrew Rundle
- Children living in areas with more street trees have lower asthma prevalence
J Epidemiol Community Health 0: jech.2007.071894v1.
SHORT REPORTS
Children living in areas with more street trees have lower asthma prevalence
Columbia University, United States
E-mail: gl2225{at}columbia.edu
Introduction: Childhood asthma prevalence in the US increasedby 50% from 1980 to 2000, with especially high prevalence inpoor urban communities.
Methods: Asthma prevalence among children ages 4-5 years oldand asthma hospitalizations among children less than 15 yearsold were available for 42 health service catchment areas withinNew York City. Street tree counts were provided by the New YorkCity Department of Parks and Recreation. We also measured proximityto pollution sources, socio-demographic characteristics, andpopulation density for each area.
Results: Controlling for potential confounders, an increasein tree density of one standard deviation (SD: 343 trees/km2)was associated with a lower asthma prevalence (relative risk[RR]: 0.71 per SD of tree density; 95% CI [confidence interval]:0.64-0.79), but not asthma hospitalizations (RR: 0.89 per SDof tree density; 95% CI: 0.75-1.06).
Conclusions: Street trees were associated with a lower prevalenceof early childhood asthma. Our study does not permit inferencethat trees are causally related to asthma at the individual-level.The PlaNYC sustainability initiative, which includes a commitmentto plant one million trees by the year 2017, offers an opportunityfor a large prospective evaluation.
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