Residential Greenness Is Associated with Lower Thyroid Nodule Prevalence: A Nationwide Study in China
Authors' conclusion
Our study is the first to identify an association between higher levels of residential greenness and a lower prevalence of thyroid nodules.
Study context
- Population
- Participants of a national cross-sectional survey across 31 provinces in mainland China; greenness by normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and enhanced vegetation index (EVI)
- Participants
- 73,728 participants
- Exposure
- Residential greenness and thyroid nodule prevalence
- Outcome
- Thyroid nodules >10 mm in diameter diagnosed via US
Methodological detailsnational, 31 provinces
- National
- 31 provinces
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Prevalence of 10 mm thyroid nodules by NDVI500 quartile
Estimate (CI)
Q4vs Q1
OR (NDVI500) 0.53(0.48–0.58)
Q4vs Q1
OR (EVI500) 0.55(0.51–0.60)
- Trend across NDVI500 quartiles
- P for trend < 0.001
- Continuous NDVI500, adjusted OR
- 0.20 (CI: 0.16-0.25)
- Continuous EVI500, adjusted OR
- 0.08 (CI: 0.06-0.12)
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Nodule prevalence by sex
- Males
- 5.25% (95% CI: 5.02-5.49%)
- Females
- 9.09% (CI: 8.80-9.39%)
Sensitivity analyses (5 mm threshold; excluding cysts; excluding thyroid antibody positivity, goiter, or both; 500 m and 1000 m buffers)
- Confirmed the negative association
Parts of this Brief are withheld: the automatic checks could not confirm them against the abstract.
Original publication
Residential Greenness Is Associated with Lower Thyroid Nodule Prevalence: A Nationwide Study in China. Thyroid. Published 23 April 2025. doi:10.
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