Neighborhood greenspace and cognition: The cardiovascular health study

Objectives: We examined whether greenspace measures (overall percent greenspace and forest, and number of greenspace types) were associated with clinically adjudicated dementia status. Methods: In a sample of non-demented older adults (n = 2141, average age = 75.3 years) from the Cardiovascular Health and Cognition Study, Cox proportional hazard and logistic regression analyses were used to estimate associations of baseline greenspace with risks of incident dementia and MCI, respectively, while adjusting for demographics, co-morbidities, and other neighborhood factors. We derived quartiles of percent greenness (greenspace), forest (percent tree canopy cover), and tertiles of greenspace diversity (number of greenspace types) for 5-km radial buffers around participant's residences at study entry (1989-1990) from the 1992 National Land Cover Dataset. Dementia status and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) over 10 years was clinically adjudicated.Results: We observed no significant association between overall percent greenspace and risk of mild cognitive impairment or dementia and mostly null results for forest and greenspace diversity. Forest greenspace was associated with lower odds of MCI (OR quartile 4 versus 1: 0.54, 95% CI: 0.29-0.98) and greenspace diversity was associated with lower hazard of incident dementia (HR tertile 2 versus 1: 0.70, 95% CI = 0.50-0.99).Discussion: We found divergent results for different types of greenspace and mild cognitive impairment or dementia. Improved greenspace type and diversity measurement could better characterize the association between greenspace and cognition.

Automated summary

This study examines the association between greenspace measures and clinically adjudicated dementia status. The results show that overall percent greenspace and forest have no significant impact on the risk of mild cognitive impairment or dementia, while forest greenspace is inversely associated with the risk of mild cognitive impairment and greenspace diversity is inversely associated with the hazard of incident dementia. The study suggests the need for improved measurement of greenspace types and diversity to better understand the association with cognition.