Transportation Noise and Blood Pressure in a Population-Based Sample of Adults

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Abstract

Background: There is some evidence for an association between traffic noise and ischemic heart disease; however, associations with blood pressure have been inconsistent, and little is known about health effects of railway noise.

Objectives: We aimed to investigate the effects of railway and traffic noise exposure on blood pressure; a secondary aim was to address potentially susceptible subpopulations.

Methods: We performed adjusted linear regression analyses using data from 6,450 participants of the second survey of the Swiss Study on Air Pollution and Lung Disease in Adults (SAPALDIA 2) to estimate the associations of daytime and nighttime railway and traffic noise (A-weighted decibels) with systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP; millimeters of mercury). Noise data were provided by the Federal Office for the Environment. Stratified analyses by self-reported hypertension, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and diabetes were performed.

Results: Mean noise exposure during the day and night was 51 dB(A) and 39 dB(A) for traffic noise, respectively, and 19 dB(A) and 17 dB(A) for railway noise. Adjusted regression models yielded significant effect estimates for a 10 dB(A) increase in railway noise during the night [SBP β = 0.84; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.22, 1.46; DBP β = 0.44; 95% CI: 0.06, 0.81] and day (SBP β = 0.60; 95% CI: 0.07, 1.13). Additional adjustment for nitrogen dioxide left effect estimates almost unchanged. Stronger associations were estimated for participants with chronic disease. Significant associations with traffic noise were seen only among participants with diabetes.

Conclusion: We found evidence of an adverse effect of railway noise on blood pressure in this cohort population. Traffic noise was associated with higher blood pressure only in diabetics, possibly due to low exposure levels. The study results imply more severe health effects by transportation noise in vulnerable populations, such as adults with hypertension, diabetes, or CVD.

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Most cited references 28

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Aircraft and road traffic noise and children's cognition and health: a cross-national study.

SA Stansfeld, B Berglund, C. Clark … (2005)

Exposure to environmental stressors can impair children's health and their cognitive development. The effects of air pollution, lead, and chemicals have been studied, but there has been less emphasis on the effects of noise. Our aim, therefore, was to assess the effect of exposure to aircraft and road traffic noise on cognitive performance and health in children. We did a cross-national, cross-sectional study in which we assessed 2844 of 3207 children aged 9-10 years who were attending 89 schools of 77 approached in the Netherlands, 27 in Spain, and 30 in the UK located in local authority areas around three major airports. We selected children by extent of exposure to external aircraft and road traffic noise at school as predicted from noise contour maps, modelling, and on-site measurements, and matched schools within countries for socioeconomic status. We measured cognitive and health outcomes with standardised tests and questionnaires administered in the classroom. We also used a questionnaire to obtain information from parents about socioeconomic status, their education, and ethnic origin. We identified linear exposure-effect associations between exposure to chronic aircraft noise and impairment of reading comprehension (p=0.0097) and recognition memory (p=0.0141), and a non-linear association with annoyance (p<0.0001) maintained after adjustment for mother's education, socioeconomic status, longstanding illness, and extent of classroom insulation against noise. Exposure to road traffic noise was linearly associated with increases in episodic memory (conceptual recall: p=0.0066; information recall: p=0.0489), but also with annoyance (p=0.0047). Neither aircraft noise nor traffic noise affected sustained attention, self-reported health, or overall mental health. Our findings indicate that a chronic environmental stressor-aircraft noise-could impair cognitive development in children, specifically reading comprehension. Schools exposed to high levels of aircraft noise are not healthy educational environments.

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Noise pollution: non-auditory effects on health.

Stephen A Stansfeld, Mark P Matheson (2003)

Noise is a prominent feature of the environment including noise from transport, industry and neighbours. Exposure to transport noise disturbs sleep in the laboratory, but not generally in field studies where adaptation occurs. Noise interferes in complex task performance, modifies social behaviour and causes annoyance. Studies of occupational and environmental noise exposure suggest an association with hypertension, whereas community studies show only weak relationships between noise and cardiovascular disease. Aircraft and road traffic noise exposure are associated with psychological symptoms but not with clinically defined psychiatric disorder. In both industrial studies and community studies, noise exposure is related to raised catecholamine secretion. In children, chronic aircraft noise exposure impairs reading comprehension and long-term memory and may be associated with raised blood pressure. Further research is needed examining coping strategies and the possible health consequences of adaptation to noise.

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Hypertension and Exposure to Noise Near Airports: the HYENA Study

Lars Järup, Wolfgang Babisch, Danny Houthuijs … (2007)

Background An increasing number of people are exposed to aircraft and road traffic noise. Hypertension is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and even a small contribution in risk from environmental factors may have a major impact on public health. Objectives The HYENA (Hypertension and Exposure to Noise near Airports) study aimed to assess the relations between noise from aircraft or road traffic near airports and the risk of hypertension. Methods We measured blood pressure and collected data on health, socioeconomic, and lifestyle factors, including diet and physical activity, via questionnaire at home visits for 4,861 persons 45–70 years of age, who had lived at least 5 years near any of six major European airports. We assessed noise exposure using detailed models with a resolution of 1 dB (5 dB for United Kingdom road traffic noise), and a spatial resolution of 250 × 250 m for aircraft and 10 × 10 m for road traffic noise. Results We found significant exposure–response relationships between night-time aircraft as well as average daily road traffic noise exposure and risk of hypertension after adjustment for major confounders. For night-time aircraft noise, a 10-dB increase in exposure was associated with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.14 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.01–1.29]. The exposure–response relationships were similar for road traffic noise and stronger for men with an OR of 1.54 (95% CI, 0.99–2.40) in the highest exposure category (> 65 dB; p trend = 0.008). Conclusions Our results indicate excess risks of hypertension related to long-term noise exposure, primarily for night-time aircraft noise and daily average road traffic noise.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Environ Health Perspect

Journal ID (publisher-id): EHP

Title: Environmental Health Perspectives

Publisher: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

ISSN (Print): 0091-6765

ISSN (Electronic): 1552-9924

Publication date (Electronic): 01 September 2011

Publication date (Print): January 2012

Volume: 120

Issue: 1

Pages: 50-55

Affiliations

[1 ]Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland

[2 ]University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

[3 ]Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology, Barcelona, Spain

[4 ]Municipal Institute of Medical Research–Hospital del Mar, Barcelona, Spain

[5 ]Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain

[6 ]Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red (CIBER) Epidemiologia y Salud Pública, Barcelona, Spain

[7 ]Department of Community Medicine and Primary Care, University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland

[8 ]Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

[9 ]Ospedale Regionale di Lugano, Lugano, Switzerland

[10 ]Division of Pulmonary Medicine, University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland

Author notes

Address correspondence to J. Dratva, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, 4051 Basel, Switzerland. Telephone: 41 612848376. Fax: 41 612848101. E-mail: Julia.Dratva@ 123456unibas.ch

Article

Publisher ID: ehp.1103448

DOI: 10.1289/ehp.1103448

PMC ID: 3261938

PubMed ID: 21885382

SO-VID: 0b5cd573-d51d-4504-8e23-c9552c01d62c

License:

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

History

Date received : 17 January 2011

Date accepted : 01 September 2011

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