Association of air pollution and green space with all-cause general practitioner and emergency room visits: A cross-sectional study of young people and adults living in Belgium

Background: Residing in areas with lower levels of air pollution and higher green space is beneficial to physical and mental health. We investigated associations of PM 2.5 , tree cover and grass cover with in-hours and out-of-hours GP visits and ER visits, for young people and adults. We estimated potential cost savings of GP visits attributable to high PM 2.5. Methods: We linked individual-level health insurance claims data of 315,123 young people (10-24 years) and 885,988 adults (25-64 years) with census tract-level PM 2.5 , tree cover and grass cover. Deploying negative binomial generalized... Mehr ...