SynthesisInternational journal of environmental research and public health2020
How Should Forests Be Characterized in Regard to Human Health? Evidence from Existing Literature.
Synthesis in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Thermal conditions modulate urban forest therapy outcomes: a meta-analytic review.Scientific reports · 2025Pooled it
- Effect of Forest Therapy on Depression and Anxiety: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Smelling Wellness: Associations Between Botanic Garden Scentscapes and Human Health Gains.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Trial
- Effects of Plant-Emitted Monoterpenes on Anxiety Symptoms: A Propensity-Matched Observational Cohort Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Observational
- The Association between Physical Environment and Externalising Problems in Typically Developing and Neurodiverse Children and Young People: A Narrative Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Review
- Forest bathing and hiking benefits for mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mediterranean regions.European journal of forest research · 2023Article
- Developing Forest Therapy Programmes Based on the Health Benefits of Terpenes in Dominant Tree Species in Tara National Park (Serbia).International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Can Different Forest Structures Lead to Different Levels of Therapeutic Effects? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Association of Greenness with Blood Pressure among Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes across Rural to Urban Community Types in Pennsylvania, USA.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Is It Possible to Predict the Concentration of Natural Volatile Organic Compounds in Forest Atmosphere?International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- A Novel Anti-Environmental Forest Experience Scale to Predict Preferred Pleasantness Associated with Forest Environments.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Human Breathable Air in a Mediterranean Forest: Characterization of Monoterpene Concentrations under the Canopy.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The potential of forests as a source of health has been addressed by the scientific community and is now being considered in national forest strategies, management plans and policies. Studies identifying the mechanisms by which forest characteristics may induce these effects on human health are nevertheless scarce. This systematic review of literature on forests and human health with real-life human exposure was conducted to assess the extent to which forests have been studied and described in detail and the extent to which relationships between forest variables and health effects have been reported. The analysis underlines the lack of forest descriptions in 19.35% of the 62 studies selected for review as well as the high heterogeneity of forest variables' description. Patterns among the articles could not be identified correlating the broader forest variable (forest type) and the most studied health variables identified (blood pressure, pulse rate or/and cortisol levels). These findings, together with previous ex situ researches, suggest the need to ameliorate and incorporate more accurate descriptions of forest variables within human health studies to provide data for forest management and the potential use of these habitats for preventive medicine and clinical practice guidelines.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.