Associations between urban greenspace and depressive symptoms in Mexico's cities using different greenspace metrics

Bibliographic Data

ID21450525
AuthorsMaryia Bakhtsiyarava (0000-0001-5327-4556, University of California, Berkeley, corresponding author), Y Ju (0000-0002-1947-7533, Nanjing University), Mika Ruchama Moran (0000-0002-4225-0388, University of Haifa), Mika Moran, Daniel A Rodríguez (0000-0001-6550-5518, University of California, Berkeley), Iryna Dronova (0000-0003-3339-3704, University of California, Berkeley), Xavier Delclòs-Alió (0000-0002-7206-2310, Universitat Rovira i Virgili), Kari Moore (0000-0001-8771-2593), Marianela Castillo‐Riquelme (0000-0002-6933-4602, University of Chile), Cecilia Anza-Ramirez (0000-0001-7364-8252, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia)
Year2024
Volume164
Pages103219
Publication date2024-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueApplied Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0143-6228 • E-ISSN: 1873-7730
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.apgeog.2024.103219
OpenAlexW4391669643
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited82

Greenspace has been shown to be positively associated with mental wellbeing, but studies from the global South have been scarce. We advance the understanding of the relationship between greenspace and depressive symptoms by using multiple clearly defined metrics describing neighborhood greenness and urban parks in an understudied region with rapid urban growth. We linked individual-level health survey data for urban residents in Mexico (n = 17,258 respondents in 84 cities) with measures of greenspace such as satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), percent green area, urban parks characteristics, and kernel-density-derived continuous greenspace indicator. We estimated the odds ratios of experiencing depressive symptoms associated with greenspace at residential neighborhoods adjusted for individual and area-level characteristics. Among the various measures of greenspace investigated, the amount of greenness measured by neighborhood NDVI was associated with smaller odds of depressive symptoms. An increase by one standard deviation in the median of annual maximum NDVI at neighborhood level is associated with 8.7 % (Odds Ratio [OR] = 0.913, 95 % CI 0.853–0.977) lower odds of experiencing depressive symptoms, adjusted for individual and area-level characteristics. We find some evidence that, when neighborhood-level greenness is accounted for, the broader availability of greenspace outside of the neighborhood may be associated with smaller odds of depressive symptoms. We found no statistically significant associations for the measures describing % greenspace in a neighborhood and urban parks, and the results were not sensitive to seasonal changes in greenness. Neighborhood-level particulate matter (PM2.5) may lessen the benefits of greenspace for depressive symptoms. Higher neighborhood-level greenness as measured by NDVI is associated with smaller odds of depressive symptoms in Mexico's cities, whereas many other metrics are not. The influence of the choice of greenspace metrics on the subsequent associations highlights the importance of clear operational definitions of greenspace and the need to consider multiple complementary greenspace metrics in greenspace-health research

Depressive symptoms · Environmental health · Geography · Logistic regression · Normalized Difference Vegetation Index · Odds · Odds ratio · Sociology · Statistics · Demography · Ecology · Mathematics · Medicine · Psychology · Urban Agriculture and Sustainability · Urban Green Space and Health · Urban Heat Island Mitigation

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