Association of residential greenspace with incident depression: a prospective cohort study
4 affiliations
- 1Naval Medical Center, Naval Medical University , ,
- 2PLA Rocket Force Characteristic Medical Center , ,
- 3Clinical Research Unit, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine , ,
- 4Faculty of Military Health Service, Naval Medical University , ,
Abstract
Objective: Depression is a major public health challenge worldwide. We aimed to examine the association between residential greenspace and incident depression in UK Biobank participants.
Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study of 265,311 UK Biobank participants. Cox regression models were used to examine the association between residential greenspace (300 m/1,000 m buffers) and all-cause depression, adjusting for varying degrees of confounders across 6 sequential models. Restricted cubic spline regression (RCS) was additionally adopted to assess the dose-response relationship between continuous greenspace and depression risk. A series of sensitivity, subgroup and mediation analyses were also conducted.
Results: 265,311 participants entered the primary analysis. During the follow-up period, incident all-cause depression occurred in 10,766 participants (4.06%). The mean greenspace percentage was 36.2% (range: 0%−100%) in the 300 m buffer and 46.0% (range: 0%−100%) in the 1,000 m buffer. In a fully adjusted multivariable model (Model 6), the adjusted hazard ratio for per 10% increment in greenspace percentage was 0.988 (95% CI , 0.979–0.996) for the 300 m buffer and 0.983 (95% CI , 0.974–0.992) for the 1,000 m buffer, corresponding to a 1.2% and 1.7% reduction in depression risk, respectively. Trend test indicated a statistically significant decreasing trend with increasing greenspace levels ( P < 0.0001). Similarly, RCS displayed an inverse association of greenspace with all-cause depression, wherein higher greenspace percentage was linked to a reduced risk of depression. Results of subgroup and mediation analyses demonstrated consistent findings.
Conclusion: Increased residential greenspace is associated with a lower risk of all-cause depression. Urban planning strategies that enhance green environments may represent a potential approach for reducing depression risk at the population level.
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BibTeX
@article{yang2026association,
title = {{Association of residential greenspace with incident depression: a prospective cohort study}},
author = {Chengfang Yang and Tong Lan and Yinghong Zhai and Bin Liu and Fangyuan Hu and Jianbo Ba},
journal = {Frontiers in public health},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.3389/fpubh.2026.1897674},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13661952},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Association of residential greenspace with incident depression: a prospective cohort study
AU - Chengfang Yang
AU - Tong Lan
AU - Yinghong Zhai
AU - Bin Liu
AU - Fangyuan Hu
AU - Jianbo Ba
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/30
JO - Frontiers in public health
DO - 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1897674
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13661952
AB - Objective: Depression is a major public health challenge worldwide. We aimed to examine the association between residential greenspace and incident depression in UK Biobank participants. Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study of 265,311 UK Biobank participants. Cox regression models were used to examine the association between residential greenspace (300 m/1,000 m buffers) and all-cause depression, adjusting for varying degrees of confounders across 6 sequential models. Restricted cubic spline regression (RCS) was additionally adopted to assess the dose-response relationship between continuous greenspace and depression risk. A series of sensitivity, subgroup and mediation analyses were also conducted. Results: 265,311 participants entered the primary analysis. During the follow-up period, incident all-cause depression occurred in 10,766 participants (4.06%). The mean greenspace percentage was 36.2% (range: 0%−100%) in the 300 m buffer and 46.0% (range: 0%−100%) in the 1,000 m buffer. In a fully adjusted multivariable model (Model 6), the adjusted hazard ratio for per 10% increment in greenspace percentage was 0.988 (95% CI , 0.979–0.996) for the 300 m buffer and 0.983 (95% CI , 0.974–0.992) for the 1,000 m buffer, corresponding to a 1.2% and 1.7% reduction in depression risk, respectively. Trend test indicated a statistically significant decreasing trend with increasing greenspace levels ( P < 0.0001). Similarly, RCS displayed an inverse association of greenspace with all-cause depression, wherein higher greenspace percentage was linked to a reduced risk of depression. Results of subgroup and mediation analyses demonstrated consistent findings. Conclusion: Increased residential greenspace is associated with a lower risk of all-cause depression. Urban planning strategies that enhance green environments may represent a potential approach for reducing depression risk at the population level.
SN - 2296-2565
ER -