Urban trees and the risk of poor birth outcomes

Published

January 1, 2011

Author(s)

Geoffrey Donovan, Yvonne Michael, David Butry, Amy Sullivan, John Chase

Abstract

This paper investigated whether greater tree-canopy cover is associated with reduced risk of poor birth outcomes in Portland, Oregon. Residential addresses were geocoded and linked to classified-aerial imagery to calculate percentage tree canopy in 50, 100, and 200m buffers around each home in our sample (n=5,696). Detailed data on maternal characteristics and additional neighborhood characteristics were obtained from birth certificates and tax records. We found that a 10% increase in tree-canopy cover within 50 m of a house reduced the number of small for gestational age births by 1.42 per 1,000 births (95% CI: 0.11-2.72). Results suggest the natural environment may affect pregnancy outcomes and should be evaluated in future research.

Citation

Health & Place

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

reproductive health, small for gestational age, preterm birth, urban trees

Citation

Donovan, G. , Michael, Y. , Butry, D. , Sullivan, A. and Chase, J. (2011), Urban trees and the risk of poor birth outcomes, Health & Place, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=907256 (Accessed October 13, 2025)