Noise and cardiovascular disease: A review of the literature 2008-2011

Abstract

The association between noise and cardiovascular disease has been studied for several decades and the weight of evidence clearly supports a causal link. Nevertheless, many questions remain, such as the magnitude and threshold level for adverse effects of noise, how noise and other cardio-toxic pollutants (such as particulate matter) may interact in disease causation, identification of vulnerable populations, of exposure modifiers (i.e., location of bedrooms) and of other effect-modifiers (i.e., gender), and how epidemiologic methodology can be improved. This review describes contributions to literature over the past 3 years in the area of noise and CVD in general, with particular focus on these questions.

Urban Residential Road Traffic Noise and Hypertension: a Cross-Sectional Study of Adult Population

“…A recent meta-analysis reported a positive and significant relationship between road traffic noise exposure and prevalence of hypertension. 6 The pooled OR was 1.03 (95 % CI 1.01-1.06) per 5 dB(A) of increase of noise levels, although no threshold for an effect outcome could be established. Results from this study may further improve this evidence by obtaining a statistically significant association.…”

“…4 Epidemiological studies have documented the association between hypertension and road traffic noise exposure (L Aeq 24955 dB(A)) in European population. [5][6][7] A recent meta-analysis reported a very modest significant association between road traffic noise and hypertension 5 although pooled odds ratio (OR, 95 % CI) was 1.03 (1.01-1.06) per 5 dB(A) increase in L Aeq .…”

“…3,5,6 A quantitative relationship built on this hypothesis is somewhat wanting. Reported studies are mostly ambiguous about defining a threshold noise level above which hypertension risk may be predicted.…”

Influence of Pavement Condition on Environmental Costs

“…continuous traffic, constant speed, straight road) and assume that environmental impacts caused by a certain level of nuisance and the related costs are the same in North America and Europe. Moreover, the hypothesis that noise causes severe health effects such as early deaths and hospital admissions has not been validated yet even if it is deemed highly plausible (Davies and Kamp 2012;Staatsen et al 2004). These limitations are reflected in the uncertainties affecting the outputs of PEIM as explained below.…”

“…14 According to Staatsen et al (2004) and Davies and Kamp (2012), traffic noise significantly influences the following main health outcomes: myocardial infarction (which may lead to early death, days in hospital, days absent from work, and cases of morbidity), angina pectoris (which may lead to days in hospital, days absent from work, and days of morbidity), and hypertension (which may lead to days in hospital).…”