More green space could reduce preventable deaths in deprived areas
· News-MedicalGreen space is unequally distributed in England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, with the lowest amounts in the most deprived areas, the findings show, prompting the researchers to suggest that green space investment might be an important public health strategy for tackling health inequalities.
Spending time in green space, such as grassland, woodland, and parks, is not only associated with lower rates of death and ill health, and improved wellbeing, but also with environmental benefits, note the researchers.
In Europe, access to green space tends to be poorer in areas of deprivation. But data on the distribution of these spaces in disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods across the UK isn't known, they add.
The researchers therefore wanted to investigate inequalities in the distribution of green space in both urban and rural areas (for comparison); and the association between its availability and numbers of preventable deaths in urban neighbourhoods in all 4 UK nations, stratified by level of deprivation.
They drew on local authority data, national statistics, the Index of Multiple Deprivation, and national land survey data, to calculate: the percentage of green space in urban and rural areas; population size and density; deprivation levels; and deaths from preventable causes-;those that could be avoided through effective public health and primary prevention interventions.
They included 6791 defined geographical areas in England; 410 in Wales; 1279 in Scotland; and 890 in Northern Ireland.
Of the 4 nations, only in Wales was green space distributed equitably across neighbourhoods with differing levels of deprivation in both urban and rural areas.
In England, every 1% increase in green space in a defined geographical area was associated with 37% fewer annual preventable deaths.
"With the known health benefits of green space, this discrepancy may help to explain the wide health inequalities in urban areas in which the poorest and most vulnerable are most impacted," suggest the researchers.
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