Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 13, 2026
05:31
Disruption of the Mouse Blood-Brain Barrier by Small Extracellular Vesicles from Hypoxic Human Placentas
Published on: January 26, 2024
Association between residential greenness and preeclampsia in Japan
Hisashi Ohseto1, Ami Uematsu2, Mami Ishikuro2,3
1International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.
Environmental Epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.)
|August 12, 2026
Summary
Living in areas with moderate residential greenness may lower the risk of preeclampsia (PE), a serious pregnancy complication. This finding is particularly relevant for more deprived areas in East Asian populations.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Epidemiology
- Reproductive Health
- Public Health
Background:
- Preeclampsia (PE) is a significant cause of maternal and fetal mortality, defined by hypertension and organ dysfunction during pregnancy.
- While residential greenness is linked to various health outcomes, its association with PE is understudied, especially in East Asian populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between residential greenness and the risk of preeclampsia among Japanese women.
- To explore potential variations in this association based on socioeconomic factors and PE subtypes.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from 20,140 pregnancies within the Tohoku Medical Megabank Project Birth and Three-Generation Cohort Study.
- Assessed residential greenness using normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) values.
- Employed Poisson regression to analyze the association, adjusting for covariates like maternal age, education, income, urbanization, and deprivation index.
Main Results:
- Moderate NDVI levels showed a statistically significant inverse association with PE risk (RR = 0.81 [0.66, 1.00]).
- High NDVI levels did not show a statistically significant association (RR = 0.88 [0.69, 1.11]).
- The inverse association was more pronounced in deprived areas and for specific PE subtypes like gestational hypertension and late-onset PE.
Conclusions:
- Moderate residential greenness is associated with a reduced risk of preeclampsia compared to low greenness.
- The findings suggest that environmental greenness may play a role in mitigating PE risk, particularly in disadvantaged communities.
