ReviewBMJ open2021
Outdoor green space exposure and brain health measures related to Alzheimer's disease: a rapid review.
Review in BMJ open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers, 3 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
50 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 82 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association between green space exposure and elderly health: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2026Pooled it
- Neighbourhood-built environment and cognitive or social health in older adults with mild cognitive impairment or dementia: an umbrella review.BMC geriatrics · 2025Pooled it
- Is Greenness Associated with Dementia? A Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-analysis.Current environmental health reports · 2022Pooled it
- Precision residential greenspace, urban environmental exposures, and incident dementia among older adults in Sweden: A 16-year cohort study.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Neighborhood greenspace and brain imaging outcomes in older adults without dementia from three US Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers.Health & place · 2026Article
- Urban greenspace and dementia: Measures, mechanisms, and methodological guidance.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Review
- Mixtures of key components of the external exposome in association with MRI biomarkers of brain structure: Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene exposure, cognition, and cortical thickness at middle age in US Latinas (the CHAMACOS Maternal Cognition Study): a prospective cohort study.The Lancet. Planetary health · 2026Article
- Forest Bathing (Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Hainan Longevity Model, Senile Degeneration, Cognitive Disability and Healthy Longevity.Aging medicine (Milton (N.S.W)) · 2026Review
- Exploring the pathways between green space and blue space, and cognitive function in later life: a mediation analysis in Northern Ireland.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Article
- Environmental Factors and Risk of Early-Onset Dementia: A Population-Based Case-Control Study.Neuroepidemiology · 2025Article
- Neighborhood disadvantage and subjective cognitive function among older Black women.Psychology and aging · 2025Article
- Blue spaces and incident dementia: Differences by geospatial and historical contexts.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025Article
- Association between green space exposure and elderly health: a systematic review and meta-analysis protocol.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Outdoor physical activity, residential green spaces and the risk of dementia in the UK Biobank cohort.Communications medicine · 2025Article
- Degree of rurality moderates the association of sedentary time with cognitive function in rural patients with cardiac diseases and depressive symptoms.The Journal of rural health : official journal of the American Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Care Association · 2025Article
- Living in a 20-min neighborhood and brain health and resilience in older adults: The Healthy Brain Initiative.Health & place · 2025Article
- Investigating biological sex as a moderator of the association of nature exposure with brain health: a cross-sectional UK biobank analysis.Scientific reports · 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
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesSummarise studies of outdoor green space exposure and brain health measures related to Alzheimer's disease and related disorders (ADRD), and determine scientific gaps for future research.
designRapid review of primary research studies. METHODS AND OUTCOMES: PubMed, Embase and Web of Science Core Collection were searched for articles meeting the criteria published on/before 13 February 2020. The review excluded papers not in English, focused on transient states (eg, mental fatigue) or not using individual-level measures of brain health (eg, average school test scores). Brain health measures of interest included cognitive function, clinical diagnosis of cognitive impairment/dementia/ADRD and brain biomarkers such as those from MRI, measures typically associated with ADRD risk and disease progression.
resultsTwenty-two papers were published from 2012 to 2020, 36% on <18 years old, 32% on 18-64 years old and 59% on ≥65 years old. Sixty-four per cent defined green space based on the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index ('greenness'/healthy vegetation) and 68% focused on cognitive measures of brain health (eg, memory). Seventeen studies (77%) found green space-brain health associations (14 positive, 4 inverse). Greater greenness/green space was positively associated various cognitive domains in 10 studies and with MRI outcomes (regional brain volumes, cortical thickness, amygdala integrity) in three studies. Greater neighbourhood greenness was associated with lower odds/risk of cognitive impairment/ADRD in some studies but increased odds/risk in others (n=4 studies).
conclusionsPublished studies suggest positive green space-brain health associations across the life course, but the methods and cohorts were limited and heterogeneous. Future research using racially/ethnically and geographically diverse cohorts, life course methods and more specific green space and brain health measures (eg, time spent in green spaces, ADRD biomarkers) will strengthen evidence for causal associations.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.