Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42281490›Full record

ArticleJournal of global health2026

Residential green space mitigates genetic susceptibility to incident irritable bowel syndrome in a prospective cohort of 376 749 individuals.

Zhifu Kou, Rui Li, Jingjie Wang, Zhongjun Shao, Jin Feng, Mengna Wei, Ting Fu, Lan Chen, Guzhengyue Zheng, Hualiang Lin and 1 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of global health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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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

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Zhifu Kou *Department of Gastroenterology, Tangdu Hospital, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China.
Rui Li *The Ministry of Education Key Lab of Hazard Assessment and Control in Special Operational Environment, The Shaanxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and Protection, The Shaanxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Free Radical Biology and Medicine, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China.
Jingjie WangDepartment of Gastroenterology, Tangdu Hospital, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China.
Zhongjun ShaoThe Ministry of Education Key Lab of Hazard Assessment and Control in Special Operational Environment, The Shaanxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and Protection, The Shaanxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Free Radical Biology and Medicine, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China.
Jin FengDepartment of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Mengna WeiDepartment of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
Ting FuThe Ministry of Education Key Lab of Hazard Assessment and Control in Special Operational Environment, The Shaanxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and Protection, The Shaanxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Free Radical Biology and Medicine, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China.
Lan ChenDepartment of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Guzhengyue ZhengDepartment of Epidemiology, School of Medicine, Xizang Minzu University, Xianyang, China.
Hualiang LinDepartment of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Kun LiuThe Ministry of Education Key Lab of Hazard Assessment and Control in Special Operational Environment, The Shaanxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and Protection, The Shaanxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Free Radical Biology and Medicine, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Environmental exposures may influence irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) pathogenesis, but the interplay between genetic risk, residential green/blue space, and IBS incidence remains unexplored. Methods: We aimed to study the association between green/blue space and incident IBS, and to assess effect modification by genetic susceptibility. The study included 376 749 UK Biobank participants at baseline. Residential green space was measured using the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), and blue space was defined by distance to the nearest water bodies. For time-to-event analyses, we used Cox proportional hazards models, polygenic risk scores (PRS), and mediation analysis to test gene-environment interactions. Results are presented as hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). Results: During a follow-up of 11.73 years, 7091 incident IBS cases were documented. Higher residential green space exposure was associated with reduced risk of incident IBS. Specifically, within a 1000 m buffer, each interquartile range (IQR) increase in NDVI corresponded to a 5% lower IBS risk (HR = 0.95; 95% CI = 0.91-0.98), with consistent effects observed at 800 m and 500 m buffers. Conversely, a greater distance to water bodies was associated with reduced IBS risk. Stratification by PRS revealed a significant interaction: increased green space (1000 m buffer) reduced IBS risk by 8% exclusively among high-genetic-risk individuals (HR = 0.92; 95% CI = 0.88-0.96), whereas no interaction was observed for blue space. Moreover, physical activity mediated the association between green space and IBS. Conclusions: Increased residential green space exposure is associated with reduced IBS incidence, particularly among individuals with high genetic susceptibility. These findings underscore the importance of urban greening as a public health strategy to mitigate IBS risk, highlighting the potential for targeted environmental interventions to offset genetic predispositions.

Indexed as

Environmental ExposureGenetic Predisposition to DiseaseIrritable Bowel SyndromeAdultFemaleGene-Environment InteractionGenetic Risk ScoreHumansIncidenceMaleMiddle AgedProspective StudiesUK BiobankUnited Kingdom

Identifiers

PMID42281490
PMCPMC13261328

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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.