SynthesisInternational journal of environmental research and public health2021
Nature Exposure and Its Effects on Immune System Functioning: A Systematic Review.
Synthesis in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 52 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
52 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 131 citations in OpenAlex.
- Community Forests and Public Health: A Research Agenda.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Pooled it
- Green Environments for Sustainable Brains: Parameters Shaping Adaptive Neuroplasticity and Lifespan Neurosustainability-A Systematic Review and Future Directions.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Pooled it
- Forest soundscapes improve mood, restoration and cognition, but not physiological stress or immunity, relative to industrial soundscapes.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- The influence of a walk in nature on human resting brain activity: a randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Spending Time in the Forest or the Field: Investigations on Stress Perception and Psychological Well-Being-A Randomized Cross-Over Trial in Highly Sensitive Persons.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Trial
- Cardiorespiratory Interaction and Autonomic Sleep Quality Improve during Sleep in Beds Made fromInternational journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Trial
- Lifestyle-Driven Phenotypes in Sensitive Skin: A Cross-Sectional, Multicenter Study Across Urbanization Tiers.Dermatology and therapy · 2026Article
- Evolutionary Mismatch, Stress, and Competition: Making Sense of Psychosocial Problems in the Polycrisis Era.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Effectiveness of Nature-Based Mindfulness Interventions to Improve Mental Health: A Narrative Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Review
- Testing nature-based biopsychosocial resilience theory: a research programme protocol.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2026Article
- The Therapeutic Home Environment for Chronic Diseases: A Transdisciplinary Ecosystem for Achieving Migraine Freedom and Managing Comorbid Anxiety, Insomnia, and Chronic Pain.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Homo sapiens, industrialisation and the environmental mismatch hypothesis.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2026Review
- Associations of forest vs. urban environmental exposure with well-being and nasal microbiome composition: An exploratory pilot study.Environmental research · 2026Article
- Forest Bathing (Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Physical Activity for Human and Planetary Health: Incorporating Green Exercise in the Management of Rheumatic Disease.Rheumatic diseases clinics of North America · 2026Review
- Forest therapy as an intervention for depressive disorders: a review of the mechanisms and applications.Frontiers in public health · 2026Review
- The mediating role of activity attachment in the relationship between gardening frequency, leisure orientation, and mental wellbeing: evidence from resident gardeners with implications for future gardening tourism.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- How 'forest bathing' keeps lungs healthy.Nature · 2026Article
- Ethnic Differences in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis in the Circumpolar Region.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Nature-Based Solutions in Workplace Settings: A Scoping Review on Pathways for Integrated Quality, Environmental, Health, and Safety Management.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Given the drastic changes in our lifestyles and ecosystems worldwide, the potential health effects of natural environments have grown into a highly pervasive topic. Recent scientific findings suggest beneficial effects from nature exposure on human immune responses. This review aims at providing a comprehensive overview of literature published on immunomodulatory effects of nature exposure by inhalation of natural substances. A systematic database search was performed in SCOPUS and PubMed. The quality and potential bias of included studies (n = 33) were assessed by applying the EPHPP (Effective Public Health Practice Project) tool for human studies and the ARRIVE (Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments) and SYRCLE (Systematic Review Centre for Laboratory Animal Experimentation) tools for animal studies. The synthesis of reviewed studies points to positive effects of nature exposure on immunological health parameters; such as anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, anti-asthmatic effects or increased NK (natural killer) cell activity. Decreased expression of pro-inflammatory molecules, infiltration of leukocytes and release of cytotoxic mediators are outcomes that may serve as a baseline for further studies. However, partially weak study designs evoked uncertainties about outcome reproducibility and key questions remain open concerning effect sizes, duration of exposure and contributions of specific vegetation or ecosystem types.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.