School and residential green- and bluespace and academic performance in Polish schoolchildren with and without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Background: Some ecological studies, mainly in the United States, reported that school greenspace is associated with better academic performance. Based on individual data, we investigated whether exposure to school and residential green- and bluespace can improve the academic performance of Polish schoolchildren. Methods: NeuroSmog is a case-control study currently being conducted to investigate the impact of air pollution on brain development of children with and without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in Poland. Cases were recruited by study field psychologists, while controls were randomly recruited from schools across 18 towns in southern Poland. The analytic sample for the current analysis consists of 339 10 to 13-year-old children. Polish and maths grades are reported by parents, while perceived performance in these subjects is reported by children. Tree, grass, and water cover were abstracted in 500 and 1000m Euclidean buffers around residential addresses and school. Age, gender, mother's education, and financial status were selected as confounders by Directed Acyclic Graph. Adjusted logistical models were used to evaluate the associations. Results: We did not find any consistent associations between academic performance and residential or school green- and bluespace. This held true for population subsample and children with ADHD. Conclusions: Residential and school green and bluespace do not boost academic performance in Polish schoolchildren. More studies on individual data and from different countries are needed to confirm this finding.