Green spaces are beneficial for children’s lung health

Green spaces are beneficial for children’s lung health

Green spaces are beneficial for children’s lung health

Source: https://www.earth.com/news/green-spaces-are-beneficial-for-childrens-lung-health/

Author:  Alison Bosman

The study, which was led by Dr. Diogo Queiroz Almeida from the University of Porto, was focused on data from the research project known as Geração 21. This initiative began by recruiting over 8,000 mothers and their newborn infants in public hospitals in the Porto Metropolitan Area in 2005 and 2006. All of the children were invited to be re-evaluated at the ages of four, seven and ten years. However, since not all of the participants ended up giving complete sets of data, the current study on lung health ultimately included data from 3,278 of the children. Lung function was gauged at ages four, seven and ten using each child’s forced vital capacity (FVC). This is the maximum amount of air a person can blow out after taking in the deepest possible breath and it is a measure of lung volume and size. FVC can indicate how well the lungs are working and help diagnose lung conditions like asthma.