Green space and cognitive ageing: A retrospective life course analysis in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936

Mark P.C. Cherrie, Niamh K. Shortt, Richard J. Mitchell, Adele M. Taylor, Paul Redmond, Catharine Ward Thompson, John M. Starr, Ian J. Deary and Jamie R. Pearce

Social Science & Medicine, 2018, vol. 196, issue C, 56-65

Abstract: International evidence suggests that green space has beneficial effects on general and mental health but little is known about how lifetime exposure to green space influences cognitive ageing. Employing a novel longitudinal life course approach, we examined the association between lifetime availability of public parks and cognitive ageing. Lifetime residential information was gathered from the participants of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 using a “life-grid” questionnaire at age 78 years. Parks information from 1949, 1969 and 2009 was used to determine a percentage of parks within a 1500 m buffer zone surrounding residence for childhood, adulthood, and later adulthood periods. Linear regressions were undertaken to test for association with age-standardised, residualised change in cognitive function (Moray House Test score) from age 11 to 70 years, and from age 70 to 76 (n = 281). The most appropriate model was selected using the results of a partial F-test, and then stratified by demographic, genetic and socioeconomic factors. The local provision of park space in childhood and adulthood were both important in explaining the change in cognitive function in later life. The association between childhood and adulthood park availability and change in the Moray House Test Score from age 70 to 76 was strongest for women, those without an APOE e4 allele (a genetic risk factor), and those in the lowest socioeconomic groups.

Keywords: UK; Green space; Public parks; Cognitive function; Cognitive ageing; Life course; Longitudinal (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.10.038

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