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Science NYC study suggests: Lower child asthma rates with more trees
Science NYC study suggests: Lower child asthma rates with more trees | NYC study suggests: Lower child asthma rates with more trees |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Friday, 02 May 2008 | |
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Page 2 of 2 The article “Children living in areas with more street trees have lower prevalence of asthma” will be published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (2008, doi 10.1136/jech.2007.071894) The authors, all associated with Columbia University, New York City (United States), are Gina S. Lovasi (Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy), J.W. Quinn (Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy), K.M. Neckerman (Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy), M.S. Perzanowski (Department of Environmental Health Sciences), and A. Rundle (Mailman School of Public Health). They state within their paper: “Our cross-sectional and ecological study does not permit inference that trees are causally related to the prevalence of childhood asthma at the individual level. These observational data may be subject to residual confounding or confounding by unmeasured characteristics. Previous studies of tree density and childhood asthma have not been published to our knowledge, and our results need to be replicated by others. Future studies may be more robust if they are able to measure and control for characteristics of the home environment, such as the presence of allergens.” However, the authors are aware that the city of New York City is planning on planting one million years by the year 2017. Thus, the impact of these extra trees on asthma will be studied as to its affects on children’s asthma. They state, “A natural experiment could demonstrate whether abundant street trees caused the lower prevalence of asthma observed in densely planted areas. The PlaNYC sustainability initiative (www.nyc.gov/html/planyc2030) includes a commitment to plant one million trees in New York City by the year 2017 and offers an opportunity for a large prospective evaluation. Staged tree planting by area could help identify the effects of increased tree density on childhood asthma.” This study is important because poor urban areas in the United Sates are experiencing higher than normal levels of childhood asthma. They state, “Our findings, while not conclusive, suggest that street trees may play a role in preventing early childhood asthma. These data did not support an association between street trees and hospitalizations owing to childhood asthma. Future work to prospectively evaluate a major tree planting intervention will allow stronger inference as to the effects of nearby trees on the prevalence of childhood asthma." |
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