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BACKGROUND: The potential health benefits of exposure to vegetation, or greenness, are well documented, but there are few nationwide studies in Brazil, a country facing challenges related to land-use planning, deforestation, and environmental health risks. OBJECTIVES: In this study, we investigated the association between greenness and hospitalizations for cardiorespiratory diseases in Brazil. METHODS: We accessed hospital admissions data from 967,771 postal codes (a total of 26,724,624 admissions) covering Brazil for the period between 2008 and 2018. We used Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) to measure greenness at the postal-code level. First, we applied a quasi-Poisson regression model to estimate the association between greenness and hospitalizations for circulatory and respiratory diseases, adjusted for air pollution, weather variables, and area-level socioeconomic status. We stratified the analyzes by sex, age group, health outcome, and Brazilian regions. In the second stage, we performed a meta-analysis to estimate pooled effects across the Brazilian regions. RESULTS: The national meta-analysis for the whole population, incorporating both urban and nonurban areas, showed that higher levels of greenness were associated with a lower risk of hospitalizations for circulatory diseases. An interquartile range (IQR=0.18) increase in average NDVI was associated with a 17% (95% confidence interval: 8%, 27%) lower risk of cardiovascular admissions. In contrast, there was no association found between greenness and respiratory admissions. When specifically examining urban areas, the results remained consistent with the overall findings. However, the analyses of nonurban areas revealed divergent results, suggesting that higher levels of greenness in rural regions are associated with a lower risk of hospital admissions for both circulatory and respiratory diseases. DISCUSSION: The findings emphasize the importance of prioritizing the preservation and creation of green spaces in urban areas as a means of promoting cardiovascular health in Brazil. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP13442.

BACKGROUND: The potential health benefits of exposure to vegetation, or greenness, are well documented, but there are few nationwide studies in Brazil, a country facing challenges related to land-use planning, deforestation, and environmental health risks. OBJECTIVES: In this study, we investigated the association between greenness and hospitalizations for cardiorespiratory diseases in Brazil. METHODS: We accessed hospital admissions data from 967,771 postal codes (a total of 26,724,624 admissions) covering Brazil for the period between 2008 and 2018. We used Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) to measure greenness at the postal-code level. First, we applied a quasi-Poisson regression model to estimate the association between greenness and hospitalizations for circulatory and respiratory diseases, adjusted for air pollution, weather variables, and area-level socioeconomic status. We stratified the analyzes by sex, age group, health outcome, and Brazilian regions. In the second stage, we performed a meta-analysis to estimate pooled effects across the Brazilian regions. RESULTS: The national meta-analysis for the whole population, incorporating both urban and nonurban areas, showed that higher levels of greenness were associated with a lower risk of hospitalizations for circulatory diseases. An interquartile range (IQR=0.18) increase in average NDVI was associated with a 17% (95% confidence interval: 8%, 27%) lower risk of cardiovascular admissions. In contrast, there was no association found between greenness and respiratory admissions. When specifically examining urban areas, the results remained consistent with the overall findings. However, the analyses of nonurban areas revealed divergent results, suggesting that higher levels of greenness in rural regions are associated with a lower risk of hospital admissions for both circulatory and respiratory diseases. DISCUSSION: The findings emphasize the importance of prioritizing the preservation and creation of green spaces in urban areas as a means of promoting cardiovascular health in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This text aims to discuss the environmental issue of air quality from the concepts of risks and vulnerabilities within geographic science. The study, from a theoretical approach, carry out a conceptual review related to air pollution based on case studies from several different cities across Brazil, and Cubatão on the southeast Brazilian coast. At first, the main risks related to this environmental problem, which are divided into aesthetic, irritating and toxic risks, are presented. While aesthetic risks are related with the degradation of buildings, while the others are directly linked to human health. In sequence, the article purposes to analyse the factors that affect the increase or decrease of the vulnerability of the populations confronted with such a problem. The complexity of this issue, admitted as a direct result of the production logic of the capitalist urban space (with the valorization of consumption and socio-spatial segregation, among other factors), directly or indirectly affects the levels of vulnerability of the population and places, justifying the need for a geographical approach to such socio-environmental problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to purpose new opportunities on the collect of daily, monthly and annual precipitation data, purposing as an alternative the use of data obtained through satellites such as CHIRPS, CMorph and TRMM. For this article were correlated data from this three sensors with data collected on the surface from the Official Meteorological Station of SIMEPAR at Curitiba/PR. Such data were organized in matrix and dispersion graphics with the use of the “Corrplot” tool at the RStudio software. The results pointed that the best correlation were found at the annual scale and monthly scale at the CHIRPS sensor, with correlation values of 0.85 and 0.86 respectively and at the daily scale, the correlation were lower, registering 0.52 for the TRMM and CMORPH sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]