Noise Effects on Health in the Context of Air Pollution Exposure

Abstract

For public health policy and planning it is important to understand the relative contribution of environmental noise on health compared to other environmental stressors. Air pollution is the primary environmental stressor in relation to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. This paper reports a narrative review of studies in which the associations of both environmental noise and air pollution with health have been examined. Studies of hypertension, myocardial infarction, stroke, mortality and cognitive outcomes were included. Results suggest independent effects of environmental noise from road traffic, aircraft and, with fewer studies, railway noise on cardiovascular outcomes after adjustment for air pollution. Comparative burden of disease studies demonstrate that air pollution is the primary environmental cause of disability adjusted life years lost (DALYs). Environmental noise is ranked second in terms of DALYs in Europe and the DALYs attributed to noise were more than those attributed to lead, ozone and dioxins. In conclusion, in planning and health impact assessment environmental noise should be considered an independent contributor to health risk which has a separate and substantial role in ill-health separate to that of air pollution.

Road traffic noise, blood pressure and heart rate: Pooled analyses of harmonized data from 88,336 participants

“…Until recently, studies did not take into account exposures to traffic-related noise and air pollution simultaneously. A systematic review based on nine studies up to 2012 suggested a likely independent effect of both traffic-related noise and air pollution on cardiovascular disease (Tétreault et al, 2013), which was further supported by a recent updated review (Stansfeld, 2015) However, as only a handful of studies were 7 available, a definitive conclusion on the respective roles of air pollution and noise on cardiovascular disease cannot yet be drawn, and this issue warrants further research.…”

Environmental stressors and cardio-metabolic disease: part II–mechanistic insights

“…Air pollution and noise in urban environments contribute disproportionately to cardiovascular and metabolic risk and disability, and account substantially to the burden of disease globally attributable to environmental factors. 1 In this review, we present the mechanistic evidence linking these factors with cardiovascular and metabolic disease, address unmet research needs and technology-aided solutions to further understand disease mechanisms and to mitigate their risk.…”

The Covariance between Air Pollution Annoyance and Noise Annoyance, and Its Relationship with Health-Related Quality of Life

“…Furthermore, there is weak evidence suggesting a link between noise and both depression and anxiety disorders [18]. Others report that residential noise exposure is associated with both self-assessed health and mental health status [19].…”