Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40519255›Full record

ArticleHygiene and environmental health advances2025

Urban green spaces and mental health: Findings from Uganda.

Hilbert Mendoza, Solomon T Wafula, Katrien De Troeyer, Hayat Bentouhami, Busisiwe Shezi, Grace Biyinzika Lubega, Rawlance Ndejjo, John Bosco Isunju, Richard Mugambe, David Musoke and 1 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Hygiene and environmental health advances, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Hilbert MendozaSocial Epidemiology and Health Policy, Department of Family Medicine and Population Health, University of Antwerp, Campus Drie Eiken, Doornstraat 331, BE-2610 Wilrijk, Belgium.
Solomon T WafulaDepartment of Disease Control and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
Katrien De TroeyerSocial Epidemiology and Health Policy, Department of Family Medicine and Population Health, University of Antwerp, Campus Drie Eiken, Doornstraat 331, BE-2610 Wilrijk, Belgium.
Hayat BentouhamiSocial Epidemiology and Health Policy, Department of Family Medicine and Population Health, University of Antwerp, Campus Drie Eiken, Doornstraat 331, BE-2610 Wilrijk, Belgium.
Busisiwe SheziEnvironment and Health Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Durban, South Africa.
Grace Biyinzika LubegaDepartment of Disease Control and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
Rawlance NdejjoDepartment of Disease Control and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
John Bosco IsunjuDepartment of Disease Control and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
Richard MugambeDepartment of Disease Control and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
David MusokeDepartment of Disease Control and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
Lidia CasasSocial Epidemiology and Health Policy, Department of Family Medicine and Population Health, University of Antwerp, Campus Drie Eiken, Doornstraat 331, BE-2610 Wilrijk, Belgium.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Urban green spaces (UGS) may improve mental health in high-income countries. However, evidence from low-income African countries is scarce. Here, we assessed the associations of UGS with depressive and anxiety symptoms among adult residents of Kampala District (Uganda), the potential effect modification by sociodemographic factors, and the mediation roles of social interaction, outdoor physical activity, and residential distance to major roads as a proxy of traffic-related air pollution. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey among 641 adults. We objectively measured UGS using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) within buffers of 100 m and 1,000 m around the residences. We assessed the utilization of UGS as a self-reported frequency (never, occasionally, and frequently) by which individuals visited UGS in the past 6 months. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale were used to examine the severity of depressive and anxiety symptoms respectively. We used modified Poisson regression models to obtain prevalence ratios (PR) with their 95 % confidence intervals (CI), stratified our models, and conducted mediation analyses. Results: We observed an inverse association between UGS and both outcomes. For example, an inter-quartile range increase in UGS within a 100 m buffer was associated with a 6 % and 8 % decrease in depressive and anxiety symptoms, respectively (PR=0.94; 95 % CI=0.89-0.99, and PR=0.92; 95 % CI=0.85-0.95, respectively). Consistently, frequent visits to UGS relative to no visits were associated with a 33 % and 35 % lower prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms (PR=0.67; 95 %CI=0.53-0.84, and PR=0.65; 95 %CI=0.47-0.91, respectively). Depending on the UGS metric, we observed varying potential effect modification findings by sex, age, and educational level. Finally, residential distance to major roads emerged as a mediator in the association between residential surrounding greenness and depressive symptoms. Conclusion: Our study suggests that UGS may also improve the mental health among residents of rapidly urbanizing African low-income cities.

Indexed as

Low-income countriesMental healthSub-Saharan AfricaUrban green spacesUrban health

Identifiers

PMID40519255
PMCPMC12163622

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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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.