Exposure to green spaces reduces the risk of postpartum depression

In an analysis of more than 415,000 electronic health records of healthy full-term births in Southern California, a team of researchers led by the University of California, Irvine determined that exposure to green space and tree cover is associated with a reduced risk of postpartum infection. depression among mothers.

The study was published online in the journal The Lancet Regional Health – The Americas And It suggests that researchers, urban planners, and public health professionals should work together to develop policies and interventions that increase the amount of tree cover to create a beneficial environment for community members—especially new mothers who are at risk. baby blues.

This is the first study of its kind that examined the relationship between several Green spaces, postpartum depression and the role of physical activitysaid senior author and reporter John Wu, PhD, professor of environmental and occupational health in the UCI Program in Public Health. “We were able to show a reduced risk of postpartum depression associated with eye-level exposure to green space on neighborhood streets, and this reduction was mediated by physical activity.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 8 women have given birth recently Symptoms of postpartum depression If left untreated, the condition can affect the mother’s health and cause sleeping, feeding, and behavior problems for the baby.

The UCI team set out to fill a research gap on the relationship between green spaces and postpartum depression. The current studies covered only prenatal depression and were based only on satellite-based green space data, without looking at types of green space or the mediating role of physical activity.

An analysis of electronic health records of 415,020 individual births of women residing in Southern California between 2008 and 2018 revealed that the greatest reduction in risk of postpartum depression was associated with a street-level view of green space, compared to, say, a park near a park. .

“The risk of postpartum depression decreased by about 4.2% for every 10% increase in street green space,” said lead author Yi Sun, a former UCI postdoctoral fellow and researcher at Peking Union Medical College. “Tree cover showed stronger protective effects against postpartum depression versus other types of green space (that is, shrubs and grass).”

Furthermore, the researchers found that increased physical activity during pregnancy was a plausible pathway linking green spaces to a lower risk of postpartum depression.

The study was funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences under grant R01ES030353.

Darius Getahun, associate professor of health systems sciences at the Kaiser Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine, was a senior contributing author. Other team members include John Molitor, assistant professor of biostatistics at Oregon State University. Tarek Benmarnia, assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of California, San Diego; Jiu Quan Chen, MD, assistant professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California; and senior director of the research project Chantal Avila, biostatistician Vicki Chiu, research assistant David A. Sachs, and research scientist Jeff Slezak, all at Kaiser Permanente Southern California.