Depressive symptoms of people living in areas with high exposure to environmental noise: a multilevel analysis

Abstract

Background Exposure and damage caused by noise have been reported in many countries around the world. However, few nationwide studies explored the association of residential environmental noise with depressive symptoms, this study aims to examine this association. Methods The Korean Community Health Survey at the individual-level and the Korean Environmental Noise Measurement Database at the regional-level were used. A total of 30,630 individuals were eligible for the analysis. Multilevel model framework was applied to account for the clustered structure of the regional-level data in which individual-level data containing demographic characteristics and health information were nested. Results Individuals living in the highest environmental noise area had a 1.55 times higher likelihood of experiencing depressive symptoms than those living in the lowest environmental noise area (95% CI, 1.04−2.31). After stratified analysis according to depressive symptom severity, individuals residing in areas with the highest environmental noise exposure had significantly higher odds of mild (aOR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.02−2.07) and moderate symptoms (aOR, 1.70; 95% CI, 1.00−2.91). Limitations Because secondary data were used, time series analysis to track changes in outcomes was not possible. The PHQ-9 questionnaires, which measures depressive symptoms, were self-reported. Due to the absence of data on inter-floor noise, it could not include in the analysis. Residual confounders from unmeasured variables could not be ruled out. Conclusions The higher the residential environmental noise, the higher the possibility of mild-to-moderate depressive symptoms. Our findings suggest the need for continued attention to and management of noise pollution, which has the potential to adversely affect individual's mental health.