Cross-sectional evaluation of the association between greenness and cognitive performance in Mexican pre-pubertal boys

Àurea Cartanyà-Hueso; Benito de Celis Alonso; Silvia Sandra Hidalgo Tobón; América Liliana Miranda Lora; Miguel Klünder Klünder; Briceida López Martínez; Pilar Dies Suárez; Eduardo Barragán Pérez; Po-Wah So; Juana Maria Delgado-Saborit

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2023.116968

Cross-sectional evaluation of the association between greenness and cognitive performance in Mexican pre-pubertal boys

Environ Res. 2023 Nov 15;237(Pt 2):116968. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.116968. Epub 2023 Aug 23.

Affiliations

¹ Group of Perinatal Epidemiology, Environmental Health, and Clinical Research, Department of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Universitat Jaume I, Av. Vicent Sos Baynat, s/n 12071 Castelló de La Plana, Spain.
² Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, Mexico.
³ Departamento de Imagenología, Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez, Mexico City Mexico; Departamento de Física de La Universidad Autónoma de México Iztapalapa, Mexico City, Mexico.
⁴ Unidad de Investigación Epidemiológica en Endocrinología y Nutrición, Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez, CDMX, Mexico.
⁵ Subdirección de Investigación, Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez, Mexico City, Mexico.
⁶ Subdirección de Servicios Auxiliares de Diagnóstico, Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez, CDMX, Mexico.
⁷ Departamento de Imagenología, Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez, Mexico City Mexico.
⁸ Departamento de Neurología, Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez, Mexico City, Mexico.
⁹ Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: po-wah.so@kcl.ac.uk.
¹⁰ Group of Perinatal Epidemiology, Environmental Health, and Clinical Research, Department of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Universitat Jaume I, Av. Vicent Sos Baynat, s/n 12071 Castelló de La Plana, Spain. Electronic address: delgado@uji.es.

PMID: 37625541
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.116968

Abstract

Background: Evidence shows that greenspace exposure benefits children's health and cognitive development. However, evidence assessing this association in young children in low- and middle-income economies is scarce.

Objective: To assess the association between exposure to greenness and cognitive performance in pre-pubertal boys living in Mexico City.

Methods: Cross-sectional study using data from 144 boys aged 6-11 years living in Mexico City in 2017 and enrolled in the "MetCog" study. Cognitive performance was evaluated through selected Wechsler Scale for Intelligence in Children Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) and Neuropsychological Assessment of Children (Evaluación Neuropsicológica Infantil, ENI) tests. Exposure to greenness was assessed through Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) at 300, 500, 1500, 2000, and 3000 m buffer zones from children's residences. Multiple linear regression analysis was undertaken to assess associations between cognitive performance and greenness (aβ) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) and adjusted for potential confounding variables. Significance was set at q < 0.05 after False Discovery Rate (FDR) correction.

Results: A positive association was found between the NDVI Interquartile Range (IQR) at 2000 m and the WISC-IV block design test score (aβ ₂₀₀₀ = 1.18, 95% CI = 0.31, 2.06; q < 0.05), which assesses perceptual reasoning. Positive associations were found with NDVI IQR at 1500 m and WISC-IV block design (aβ₁₅₀₀ = 1.00, 95% CI = 0.14, 1.86) and matrix reasoning (aβ₁₅₀₀ = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.06, 1.61) scores, but neither survived FDR correction. No significant associations were found between NDVI IQR at any buffer size with other WISC-IV and ENI task scores.

Conclusions: Greater exposure to greenness was associated with higher perceptual reasoning skills in 144 pre-pubertal boys living in Mexico City. Thus, urban planning should consider increasing vegetation in megacities, especially in neighbourhoods with high percentages of young children.

Keywords: Children; Cognition; Construction skills; ENI; Greenspace; Male; Megacity; Memory; Mexico; Perceptual reasoning skills; Secondary keywords: boys; WISC-IV; Wechsler scales.