Citation

Kondo MC, South EC, Branas CC, Richmond TS, Wiebe DJ. Am. J. Epidemiol. 2017; 186(3): 289-296.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/aje/kwx096

PMID

28481962

Abstract

Green space and vegetation may play a protective role for urban violence. We investigated whether being near urban tree cover during outdoor activities related to being assaulted with a gun. We conducted GIS-assisted interviews with 10- to 24-year old males in Philadelphia, PA including 135 patients who had been shot with a firearm and 274 community controls, between 2008-2011. Each subject reported a step-by-step mapped account of where and with whom they travelled over a full day from waking until being assaulted or going to bed. Geocoded path points were overlaid on mapped layers representing tree locations and place-specific characteristics. Conditional logistic regressions compared case subjects versus controls (case-control) and case subjects at the time of injury versus times earlier that day (case-crossover). When comparing cases at the time of assault to controls matched at the same time of day, being under tree cover was inversely associated with gunshot assault (OR = 0.70, 95% CI: 0.55, 0.88), especially in low-income areas (OR = 0.69, 95% CI: 0.54, 0.87). Case-crossover models confirmed this inverse association overall (OR = 0.55, 95% CI: 0.34, 0.89), and in low-income areas (OR = 0.54, 95% CI: 0.33, 0.88). Urban greening and tree cover may hold promise as proactive strategies to decrease urban violence.

© The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Language: en

Keywords

firearm violence; green space exposure; gun assault; urban tree canopy