Greener neighborhoods are associated with lower cognitive decline – Medical News

Many works have shown that the green space has health benefits. Now, a new study conducted by the Institute of Global Health of Barcelona (ISGlobal), a center promoted by the Banking Foundation "la Caixa", suggests that it could also play a positive role against cognitive decline in old people.

In particular, research published in Environmental Health Perspectives shows that the expected loss of cognitive function as part of the aging process is slightly slower for people living in greener neighborhoods.

The team followed a decade 6,500 people between 45 and 68 years of age from the United Kingdom. At three different times throughout the study, participants completed a battery of cognitive tests that badessed their verbal and mathematical reasoning, verbal fluency, and short-term memory, as well as the decline of all of these functions at the time. over the years. The green space in the neighborhood of each participant was estimated using satellite images

"There is evidence that the risk of dementia and cognitive impairment can be influenced by exposure to environmental threats related to the urban environment, air and noise) and lifestyle (with factors such as stress or sedentary behavior), "says Carmen de Keijzer, researcher ISGlobal and first author of the Study

The risk of dementia and cognitive impairment may be influenced by environmental threats and lifestyle

"On the contrary, it has also been suggested that living near green spaces increases the risk of death. physical activity and social life, reduces stress and reduces exposure to air pollution and noise "

Research still rare

Recent evidence has shown the cognitive benefits of 39; expositio n to green spaces in children and girls, but studies on the possible relationships between green space exposure and cognitive decline in the elderly are still rare.

"Our data show that the decline in 10-year cognitive test results was 4.6% lower than participants who lived in greener neighborhoods, and the badociations observed were stronger among women, which suggests that these relationships could be influenced by gender, "says Carmen de Keijzer.

" We expect that in 2050, the proportion of people over 60 years The world has doubled compared to 2015 and the forecasts indicate an increase in dementia cases at a similar rate.Although the differences in cognitive decline observed in our study are modest at the individual level, they are much more significant at the population level, "explains Payam Dadvand, researcher ISGlobal and last author of the study

confirmed by future studies, these results can constitute a scientific basis for implementing interventions and slow down cognitive deterioration in older people living in urban areas. Thus, also improve their quality of life, "she concludes.

Bibliographic reference:

De Keijzer C., Tonne C., Basagaña X., Valentín A., Singh-Manoux A., Alonso J., Antó JM, M. Nieuwenhuijsen, J. Sunyer, Dadvand P. "Residential Greenspace and Cognitive Decline: A 10-Year Follow-up of the Whitehall II Cohort." Environmental Health Perspectives, 2018.