'Green' Neighborhoods Reduce Mortality for the Poor

GLASGOW, Scotland, Nov. 6 -- Access to parks and other green space may ease health disparities for the poor, researchers here found.

Low income was associated with an increased incidence of all-cause mortality of 93% in areas with the fewest forests, parks, and playing fields but only 43% in the greenest areas, reported Richard Mitchell, Ph.D., of the University of Glasgow, and Frank Popham, Ph.D., of the University of St. Andrews in St. Andrews, Scotland, in the Nov. 8 issue of The Lancet.

The population-based study revealed the same decrease in disparities for circulatory disease-related mortality in the most versus least green areas (incidence rate ratio 1.54 versus 2.19).

These findings add to accumulating evidence that physical environment plays a role in socioeconomic health inequalities, they wrote.

One recent study found that "greenness" in urban inner-city areas kept kids from becoming obese. (See: Urban Green Space Keeps Kids from Getting Fat)/.../