Less greenspace around homes may be linked to an increased risk of ADHD

A new population based cohort study followed individuals born between 1992 and 2007 to determine if the amount of greenspace surrounding children’s homes is linked to ADHD. This new Danish study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, from a team at Aarhus University is the largest of its kind. Using data on the addresses of more than 800,000 individuals the researchers analysed information on clinical ADHD diagnoses from age 5 until 2016 and data on specific measurements of greenspace around a household known as ‘normalized differential vegetation index’. This measurement puts an address in the middle of a quadratic area with 210 metres on each side to calculate how green the surrounding environment is.

The study found that children who have been exposed to less greenspace in early childhood have an increased risk of receiving an ADHD diagnosis. The study adjusted for gender, age, year of birth, parent’s psychiatric diagnosis, socio-economic status and neighbourhood level socio-economic status.