Green Spaces Aid Healthier Pregnancies: Study

Mothers who give birth in green spaces are more likely to have healthier, higher-weight babies, than those who give birth in more urban environments.

A recent study published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that lower birth weights typically occurred in areas that were more economically deprived and lacked availability to public green spaces.

"We found that that overall, an increase of surrounding greenery near the home was associated with a significant increase of birth weight and decreased risk for low birth weight," said Prof. Michael Friger, of BGU's Department of Public Health, in the press release. "This was the first study outside of the United States and Europe demonstrating associations between greenery and birth weight, as well as the first to report the association with low birth weight."

For the study, researchers examined 40,000 single live births from a registry birth cohort in Tel Aviv, Israel, to determine the impact of green surroundings during pregnancy and birth outcomes. All of the green spaces included parks, community gardens or cemeteries that were defined as either partly or completely covered with grass, trees, shrubs or other vegetation.

"The application of remote sensing data on surrounding green areas enabled our study to take small-scale green spaces (eg, street trees and green verges) into account, while the OpenStreetMap data determined the major green spaces."

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the study titled "Green Spaces and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes."