Associations of parks, greenness, and blue space with cardiovascular and respiratory disease hospitalization in the US Medicare cohort.

ABSTRACT: Natural environments have been linked to decreased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and respiratory disease (RSD) mortality. However, few cohort studies have looked at associations of natural environments with CVD or RSD hospitalization. The aim of this study was to evaluate these associations in a cohort of U.S. Medicare beneficiaries (∼63 million individuals). Our open cohort included all fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries (2000-2016), aged ≥65, living in the contiguous U.S. We assessed zip code-level park cover based on the United States Geological Survey Protected Areas Database, average greenness (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, NDVI), and percent blue space cover based on Landsat satellite images. Cox-equivalent Poisson models were used to estimate associations of the

SUBMITTER: Klompmaker JO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10236532 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature