TY - JOUR
T1 - Landscape structure and diseases profile
T2 - Associating land use type composition with disease distribution
AU - Votsi, Nefta Eleftheria P
AU - Mazaris, Antonios D.
AU - Kallimanis, Athanasios S.
AU - Drakou, Evangelia G.
AU - Pantis, John D.
PY - 2014/3/4
Y1 - 2014/3/4
N2 - Human health and well-being presuppose environmental quality. Several studies have documented the indicative role of land use types in environmental quality. However, the exact role of land use composition on disease distribution has remained scientifically vague. We assessed the congruence of diseases distribution with land use composition, focusing on high environmental quality areas, defined as tranquil areas with view to indicating places offering well-being. Landscape composition is linked to the presence of diseases across 51 prefectures of Greece. Agricultural and natural land use types proved to be the main drivers of disease distribution. Tranquility demonstrated a strong negative correlation with population density, thus could be considered as a quantitative spatial index of life-quality. We concluded that the landscape context affects the dominance of diseases patterns. Special emphasis should be put on the role of tranquil areas in human health and the relative environmental health policies.
AB - Human health and well-being presuppose environmental quality. Several studies have documented the indicative role of land use types in environmental quality. However, the exact role of land use composition on disease distribution has remained scientifically vague. We assessed the congruence of diseases distribution with land use composition, focusing on high environmental quality areas, defined as tranquil areas with view to indicating places offering well-being. Landscape composition is linked to the presence of diseases across 51 prefectures of Greece. Agricultural and natural land use types proved to be the main drivers of disease distribution. Tranquility demonstrated a strong negative correlation with population density, thus could be considered as a quantitative spatial index of life-quality. We concluded that the landscape context affects the dominance of diseases patterns. Special emphasis should be put on the role of tranquil areas in human health and the relative environmental health policies.
KW - disease distributional patterns
KW - environmental health policy
KW - environmental indicators
KW - Land use types
KW - tranquility
KW - ITC-ISI-JOURNAL-ARTICLE
UR - https://ezproxy2.utwente.nl/login?url=https://webapps.itc.utwente.nl/library/2014/isi/drakou_lan.pdf
UR - https://ezproxy2.utwente.nl/login?url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09603123.2013.800965
U2 - 10.1080/09603123.2013.800965
DO - 10.1080/09603123.2013.800965
M3 - Article
C2 - 23802561
AN - SCOPUS:84891861134
SN - 0960-3123
VL - 24
SP - 176
EP - 187
JO - International Journal of Environmental Health Research
JF - International Journal of Environmental Health Research
IS - 2
ER -
