Early Life Exposure to Green Space and Mid-childhood Cognition in the Project Viva Cohort (Massachusetts, USA).

View Abstract

The association between early life greenness and child cognition is not well understood. Using prospective data from Project Viva (n=857) from 1999 to 2010, we examined associations of early life greenness exposure with mid-childhood cognition. We estimated residential greenness at birth, early childhood (median age 3.1y), and mid-childhood (7.8y) using 30m resolution Landsat satellite imagery [Normalized Difference Vegetation Index]. In early childhood and mid-childhood, we administered standardized assessments of verbal and nonverbal intelligence, visual-motor abilities, and visual memory. We used natural splines to examine associations of early life-course greenness with mid-childhood cognition, adjusting for age, sex, race, income, neighborhood socioeconomic status, maternal intelligence, and parental education. At lower levels of greenness (greenness<0.6), greenness exposure at early childhood was associated with a 0.48% increase in non-verbal intelligence and 2.64% increase in visual memory in mid-childhood. The association between early childhood greenness and mid-childhood visual memory was observed after further adjusting for early childhood cognition and across different methodologies, while the association with non-verbal intelligence was not. No other associations between early life-course greenness and mid-childhood cognition were found. Early childhood greenness was nonlinearly associated with higher mid-childhood visual memory. Our findings highlight the importance of nonlinear associations between greenness and cognition.

Abbreviation
Am J Epidemiol
Publication Date
2021-07-23
Pubmed ID
34308473
Medium
Print-Electronic
Full Title
Early Life Exposure to Green Space and Mid-childhood Cognition in the Project Viva Cohort (Massachusetts, USA).
Authors
Jimenez MP, Shoaff J, Kioumourtzoglou MA, Korrick S, Rifas-Shiman SL, Hivert MF, Oken E, James P