The effect of residential greenness and city park visiting habits on preschool children's mental and general health in Lithuania: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Aim:The aim of this study was to determine the association between levels of residential surrounding greenness,preschool children's park use, sedentary behaviour, and mental and general health.Methods:This cross-sectional study included 1489 4-6-year-old children–residents of Kaunas city, Lithuania.Responses to the questionnaires completed by parents were used to ascertain children's general and mentalhealth. We estimated exposure to greenness by the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), and timespent in a park (i.e. park use). We used multivariate logistic regression models to explore the independentassociations between health outcomes and surrounding greenness and time spent in the nearest city park,controlling for potential confounders.Results:Of all the studied children, 14% had poor perceived general health, and 44.7% spent 5 or more hours perweek in city parks. A significant increase in sedentary behaviour was observed in children with poor health.Every additional hour of time spent in parks was associated with decreased sedentary behaviour and a lower riskof poor health; meanwhile, lower residential greenness was associated with poorer mental and general health.Compared with NDVI-100 m > median and park use exceeding 5 h per week, lower greenness exposure andshorter park usage were associated with the risk of poor health (adjusted odds ratio 2.32 (95% CI: 1.43, 3.78)and the general risk of mental difficulties (adjusted odds ratio 1.43 (95% CI: 1.03, 2.18) in 4–6-year-old children.Conclusions:Lower residential greenness levels and less time spent in a park were associated with poorer generaland mental health among 4-6-year-old children. Physical activity in green spaces is recommended as a measureto prevent poor general and mental health among children.[...]