Residential surrounding greenspace and age at menopause: A 20-year European study (ECRHS). (November 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Triebner, Kai; Markevych, Iana; Hustad, Steinar; Benediktsdóttir, Bryndís; Forsberg, Bertil; Franklin, Karl A.; Gullón Blanco, José Antonio; Holm, Mathias; Jaquemin, Bénédicte; Jarvis, Debbie; Jõgi, Rain; Leynaert, Bénédicte; Lindberg, Eva; Martínez-Moratalla, Jesús; Muniozguren Agirre, Nerea; Pin, Isabelle; Sánchez-Ramos, José Luis; Heinrich, Joachim; Gómez Real, Francisco; Dadvand, Payam
• Is Part Of: Environment international. Volume 132(2019)
• Publication Date: 2019-11
• Subjects: BMI body mass index -- CI Confidence Interval -- ECRHS European Community Respiratory Health Survey -- FSH Follicle Stimulating Hormone -- HR Hazard Ratio -- HRT hormone replacement therapy -- IQR interquartile range -- IU/L International Units per Litre -- NDVI Normalized Difference Vegetation Index -- NIR near-infrared light -- PCOS polycystic ovary syndrome -- pmol/L Picomol per Litre -- RED visible red light; Greenspace -- Menopause -- NDVI -- Reproductive aging -- Sex hormones; Environmental protection -- Periodicals; Environmental health -- Periodicals; Environmental monitoring -- Periodicals; Environmental Monitoring -- Periodicals; Environnement -- Protection -- Périodiques; Hygiène du milieu -- Périodiques; Environnement -- Surveillance -- Périodiques; Environmental health; Environmental monitoring; Environmental protection; Periodicals; 333.705
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2019.105088
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0160-4120

Abstract

Abstract: Background: Menopause is associated with a number of adverse health effects and its timing has been reported to be influenced by several lifestyle factors. Whether greenspace exposure is associated with age at menopause has not yet been investigated. Objective: To investigate whether residential surrounding greenspace is associated with age at menopause and thus reproductive aging. Methods: This longitudinal study was based on the 20-year follow-up of 1955 aging women from a large, population-based European cohort (ECRHS). Residential surrounding greenspace was abstracted as the average of satellite-based Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) across a circular buffer of 300 m around the residential addresses of each participant during the course of the study. We applied mixed effects Cox models with centre as random effect, menopause as the survival object, age as time indicator and residential surrounding greenspace as time-varying predictor. All models were adjusted for smoking habit, body mass index, parity, age at menarche, ever-use of contraception and age at completed full-time education as socio-economic proxy. Results: An increase of one interquartile range of residential surrounding greenspace was associated with a 13% lower risk of being menopausal (Hazard Ratio: 0.87, 95% Confidence Interval: 0.79–0.95). Correspondingly the predicted median age at menopause was 1.4 years older in the highest compared to the lowest NDVI quartile. Results remained stable after additional adjustment for air pollution and traffic related noise amongst others. Conclusions: Living in greener neighbourhoods is associated with older age at menopause and might slow reproductive aging. These are novel findings with broad implications. Further studies are needed to see whether our findings can be replicated in different populations and to explore the potential mechanisms underlying this association. Highlights: There are no pre-existing studies on greenspace and reproductive aging. More residential surrounding greenspace is associated with older age at menopause. This study provides evidence for interventions towards slowing reproductive aging