The University of Louisville's Green Heart Louisville Project has found that people living in neighborhoods where the number of trees and shrubs was more than doubled showed lower levels of a blood marker of inflammation than those living outside the planted areas. General inflammation is an important risk indicator for heart disease and other chronic diseases. The findings were presented by Daniel Riggs, UofL assistant professor of environmental medicine, at the 36th Annual Conference of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology in Santiago, Chile on Aug.
26. The Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute launched the first-of-its-kind project in 2018 in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, Washington University in St. Louis, Hyphae Design Laboratory and others to study whether and how living among more densely greened surroundings contributes to better heart health.
The design of the study closely mirrors clinical trials which test whether medical treatments are effective. The team applied the treatment—the addition of large trees and shrubs—to some participants' neighborhoods but not to others. They then compared residents' health data to see how the addition of the trees affected their health.
"The Green Heart Louisville Project is an excellent example of how our university's innovative and collaborative researchers are working to improve lives in our community and far beyond," UofL President Kim Schatzel said. "Trees are beautiful, but these results sh.