A US Forrest Service published an article in the January issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, that correlated massive loss of trees with cardiovascular and pulmonary deaths in an 18 year study across the eastern and midwestern US. The study included 1296 counties and 15 states where there was a loss of 100 million ash trees from theemerald ash borrer beetle. They calculated there were an extra 15,000 cardiovascular deaths and 6000 pulmonary deaths.
This association is suggestive but not proof that the loss of trees actually was directly responsible for this increase in mortality.
