Journal article
Street view-based exposure to greenspace and mortality: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis
Environment international, v 213, 110339
04 Jun 2026
PMID: 42248000
Abstract
Higher exposure to greenspace has been associated with reduced mortality rates in predominantly White samples. However, the specific contribution of different types of greenspace exposures to these associations and whether the associations vary by race and ethnicity have not been studied. Our main objective was to quantify the association between specific types of greenspaces and all-cause mortality risk among participants of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA).
We analyzed data from 6,795 MESA participants, with baseline interviews in 2000 and follow-up through 2018. Deep learning algorithms were applied to Street View images to estimate percent of residential greenspace type (e.g., %Trees and %Grass) within a 500 m buffer for each follow-up year. We used Cox models to estimate hazard ratios (HR) for the association between % of each greenspace metric and mortality, adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic factors.
Among 6,748 individuals (mean baseline age 62 years [SD 10]) totaling 973,608 person-years, we observed 1898 (28.1%) deaths during 19 years of follow-up. In fully-adjusted models, exposure to %Other green (fields, flowers, and plants) was associated with lower mortality (0.89, 95% CI: 0.84, 0.94), while %Grass showed a similar but less consistent inverse association (0.91, 95% CI: 0.83, 0.99). This protective association was particularly notable among participants living in neighborhoods with low socioeconomic status (%Other green 0.86, 95% CI: 0.77, 0.97). No associations were observed for %Trees.
Our results suggest that greater exposure to certain greenspace types may be associated with a reduced mortality risk among MESA participants.
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Details
- Title
- Street view-based exposure to greenspace and mortality: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis
- Creators
- Marcia Pescador Jimenez - Boston UniversityMarco Chivardi - Boston UniversityBrent A. Coull - Harvard UniversityPerry Hystad - Oregon State UniversityAna V. Diez-Roux - Drexel UniversityJoel D Kaufman - University of WashingtonPeter James - Department of Public Health
- Publication Details
- Environment international, v 213, 110339
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Number of pages
- 8
- Grant note
- National Institutes of Health: R00AG066949, R01AG087199, R01NS139186, R01HL150119, P30 ES000002 National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute: R01HL071759 National Institute on Aging: R01AG072634 U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): RD831697, RD-83830001
We are grateful to the participants and study staff of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) for their longstanding commitment and contributions to the research community. The authors take full responsibility for all analyses and the interpretation of the results presented in this manuscript. This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health through grants R00AG066949, R01AG087199, R01NS139186, R01HL150119 and P30 ES000002. MESA Neighborhoods is supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01HL071759), the National Institute on Aging (R01AG072634). This publication was developed under the Science to Achieve Results (STAR) research assistance agreements awarded by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (No. RD831697 [MESA Air] and RD-83830001 [MESA Air Next Stage] ) . It has not been formally reviewed by the EPA. The views expressed in this document are solely those of the authors and the EPA does not endorse any products or commercial services mentioned in this publication.
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Urban Health Collaborative
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001793228200001
- Other Identifier
- 991022191261904721