Neighbourhood green space, social environment and mental health: an examination in four European cities.

Objectives: This study examines the relationship between neighbourhood green space, the neighbourhood social environment (social cohesion, neighbourhood attachment, social contacts), and mental health in four European cities.

Methods: The PHENOTYPE study was carried out in 2013 in Barcelona (Spain), Stoke-on-Trent (United Kingdom), Doetinchem (The Netherlands), and Kaunas (Lithuania). 3771 adults living in 124 neighbourhoods answered questions on mental health, neighbourhood social environment, and amount and quality of green space.

The Influence of Meteorological Factors and Atmospheric Pollutants on the Risk of Preterm Birth.

Atmospheric pollutants and meteorological conditions are suspected to be causes of preterm birth. We aimed to characterize their possible association with the risk of preterm birth (defined as birth occurring before 37 completed gestational weeks). We pooled individual data from 13 birth cohorts in 11 European countries (71,493 births from the period 1994-2011, European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE)).

Development of West-European PM and NO land use regression models incorporating satellite-derived and chemical transport modelling data.

Satellite-derived (SAT) and chemical transport model (CTM) estimates of PM and NO are increasingly used in combination with Land Use Regression (LUR) models. We aimed to compare the contribution of SAT and CTM data to the performance of LUR PM and NO models for Europe. Four sets of models, all including local traffic and land use variables, were compared (LUR without SAT or CTM, with SAT only, with CTM only, and with both SAT and CTM).

Drinking Water Disinfection By-products, Genetic Polymorphisms, and Birth Outcomes in a European Mother-Child Cohort Study.

Background: We examined the association between exposure during pregnancy to trihalomethanes, the most common water disinfection by-products, and birth outcomes in a European cohort study (Health Impacts of Long-Term Exposure to Disinfection By-Products in Drinking Water). We took into account exposure through different water uses, measures of water toxicity, and genetic susceptibility.

Methods: We enrolled 14,005 mothers (2002-2010) and their children from France, Greece, Lithuania, Spain, and the UK.

Tracking Restoration of Park and Urban Street Settings in Coronary Artery Disease Patients.

Unlabelled: The physiological effects of natural and urban environments on the cardiovascular system of coronary artery disease (CAD) patients are not fully understood. This controlled field study examines the effects of restorative walking in a park vs. in an urban street environment on CAD patients' stress parameters and cardiac function.

Visiting green space is associated with mental health and vitality: A cross-sectional study in four european cities.

Many epidemiological studies have found that people living in environments with more green space report better physical and mental health than those with less green space. However, the association between visits to green space and mental health has seldom been studied. The current study explored the associations between time spent in green spaces by purposeful visits and perceived mental health and vitality in four different European cities, and to what extent gender, age, level of education, attitude towards nature and childhood nature experience moderate these associations.

Natural outdoor environments and mental and physical health: relationships and mechanisms.

Background: Evidence is growing for the beneficial impacts of natural outdoor environments on health. However, most of the evidence has focused on green spaces and little evidence is available on health benefits of blue spaces and about possible mediators and modifiers of such impacts. We investigated the association between natural outdoor environments (separately for green and blue spaces) and health (general and mental) and its possible mediators and modifiers.

Inequality, green spaces, and pregnant women: roles of ethnicity and individual and neighbourhood socioeconomic status.

Evidence of the impact of green spaces on pregnancy outcomes is limited with no report on how this impact might vary by ethnicity. We investigated the association between residential surrounding greenness and proximity to green spaces and birth weight and explored the modification of this association by ethnicity and indicators of individual (maternal education) and neighbourhood (Index of Multiple Deprivation) socioeconomic status. Our study was based on 10,780 singleton live-births from the Born in Bradford cohort, UK (2007-2010).

Ambient air pollution and low birthweight: a European cohort study (ESCAPE).

Background: Ambient air pollution has been associated with restricted fetal growth, which is linked with adverse respiratory health in childhood. We assessed the effect of maternal exposure to low concentrations of ambient air pollution on birthweight.

Methods: We pooled data from 14 population-based mother-child cohort studies in 12 European countries.

Risk of congenital anomalies in relation to the uptake of trihalomethane from drinking water during pregnancy.

Objectives: Congenital anomalies have been inconsistently associated with maternal crude estimated exposure to drinking water trihalomethane (THM). We investigated the relationship between individual THM uptake during the first trimester of pregnancy and congenital anomalies.

Methods: We estimated maternal THM uptake for 3074 live births using residential tap water concentrations, drinking water ingestion, showering and bathing, and uptake factors of THM in the blood.