Whether greenspace affects lung function is unclear. We explored associations between the level of greenness or presence of urban green space near the home with lung function measures taken repeatedly during childhood and adolescence in five European birth cohorts. Lung function was measured by spirometry between six and 22 years (2-3 times), and 9,206 participants from BAMSE (Sweden), GINI/LISA South and GINI/LISA North (Germany), PIAMA (The Netherlands) and INMA (Spain) contributed at least one lung function measurement. The mean Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in a 300 m buffer and presence of urban green space within a 300 m buffer (yes/no) were estimated at the home address at the time of each spirometry measurement. Cohort-specific associations were assessed using adjusted linear mixed models and combined in a random-effects meta-analysis. Residential greenness was not associated with forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC) or FEV1/FVC in the meta-analysis (2.3 ml [-3.2, 7.9], 6.2 ml [-3.4, 15.7] and -0.1 [-0.3, 0.1] per 0.1 increase in NDVI, respectively), nor was having a nearby urban green space (-8.6 ml [-22.3, 5.0], -7.6 ml [-24.7, 9.4] and 0.0 [-0.4, 0.3], respectively). Heterogeneity was low to moderate (I2 = 0 -39 %). Asthma, atopy, air pollution, sex, socioeconomic status and urbanization did not modify the null associations. Using repeated data from five large independent European birth cohorts, we did not find associations between vegetation levels around the home or the presence of an urban green space and lung function levels during childhood and adolescence.
FörderungenEuropean Research Council (ERC) Fundacio Roger Torne Fundacio La Caixa Generalitat de Catalunya Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia European Union Fondo de Investigacion Sanitaria CIBER Epidemiologia y Salud Pblica (CIBERESP) Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Red de Centros de investigacion en Epidemiologia y Salud Pblica (RCESP) Commission of the European Communities Federal Ministry for Environment Research Institute at Marien-Hospital Wesel Consejeria de Salud de Andalucia Junta the Andalucia Conselleria de Sanitat de la Generalitat Valenciana National Science Centre, Poland European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union Imperial College Research Fellowship Generalitat de Catalunya through the CERCA Program Azkoitia in Gipuzkoa KUTXA-Caja Gipuzkoa San Sebastia Diputacion Floral de Gipuzkoa Departamento de Sanidad-Gobierno Vasco Spanish Association against the Cancer (AECC) (Delegacion Provincial Asturias) CAJASTUR-Caja Asturias Honnef