Residential greenness and allergic respiratory diseases in children and adolescents - A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

The aetiology of allergic respiratory disease in children is not yet fully understood. Environmental factors are believed to play a major part. The amount of green vegetation surrounding the home (residential greenness) has been recently identified as a potentially important exposure OBJECTIVES: Our goal was to provide a systematic review and quantitative summary of the evidence regarding the relationship between residential greenness and allergic respiratory diseases in children.

METHODS:

Peer-reviewed literature published prior to 1 March 2017 was systematically searched using nine electronic databases. Meta-analyses were conducted if at least three studies published risk estimates for the same outcome and exposure measures.

RESULTS:

We included 11 articles across broad outcomes of asthma and allergic rhinitis. Reported effects were inconsistent with varying measures to define residential greenness. Only limited meta-analysis could be conducted, with the pooled odds ratios for asthma (OR 1.01 95%CI 0.93, 1.09; I2 68.1%) and allergic rhinitis (OR 0.99 95%CI 0.87, 1.12; I2 72.9%) being significantly heterogeneous.

CONCLUSIONS:

Inconsistencies between the studies were too large to accurately assess the association between residential greenness and allergic respiratory disease. A standardised global measure of greenness which accounts for seasonal variation at a specific relevant buffer size is needed to create a more cohesive body of evidence and for future examination of the effect of residential greenness on allergic respiratory diseases.

• Authors: K A Lambert, G Bowatte, R Tham, C Lodge, L Prendergast, J Heinrich, M J Abramson, S C Dharmage, B Erbas
• Journal: Environmental research (Environ Res) Vol. 159 Pg. 212-221 (11 2017) ISSN: 1096-0953 [Electronic] Netherlands
• PMID: 28803150 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Meta-Analysis, Review, Systematic Review)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Topics

• Adolescent
• Asthma (epidemiology, etiology)
• Child
• Child, Preschool
• Environment
• Housing
• Humans
• Incidence
• Infant
• Infant, Newborn
• Prevalence
• Rhinitis, Allergic (epidemiology, etiology)