Individuals who lived in “green” low-income public housing demonstrated improved health outcomes compared with those who lived in conventional public housing, according to study results.

Asthmatic children who lived in green homes also experienced considerably better asthma-related outcomes, results showed.

“Green design incorporates many aspects that could reduce environmental exposures and improve health, such as the removal of pollution sources and the addition of exhaust ventilation,” Meryl D. Colton, MS, a researcher at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University at the time of the study and now a medical student at University of Colorado, said in a press release. “Our study is unique in that it is the first green housing study large enough to examine changes in some important outcomes such as children’s asthma attacks and hospital visits.”