Noise exposure and children’s blood pressure and heart rate: the RANCH project

• Published in: Occupational and environmental medicine (London, England) Vol. 63; no. 9; pp. 632 - 639
• Main Authors: van Kempen, E, Van Kamp, I, Fischer, P, Davies, H, Houthuijs, D, Stellato, R, Clark, C, Stansfeld, S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 01.09.2006; BMJ Publishing Group; BMJ; BMJ Publishing Group LTD; BMJ Group
• Subjects: 7–23hr; 7–23hr) the ANEI not only takes into account the energy level of noise level events; A-weighted average sound pressure level; Aircraft; Aircraft noise; Airports; ANEI; as opposed to equivalent noise metrics (such as LAeq; Australian Noise Exposure Index (this is a noise metric expressing the level of aircraft noise in Australia; Automobiles; Biological and medical sciences; Blood pressure; Blood Pressure - physiology; but also the number of events and day/night loadings from social surveys in Australia; Child; Children; Children & youth; dB(A); degrees of freedom; Effects of various physical factors on living matter (vibrations, electric field, ultrasound, sound...); England; Environmental Exposure - adverse effects; Epidemiologic Studies; Exposure; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Heart rate; Heart Rate - physiology; Humans; Hypertension; Information retrieval noise; LAeq; Male; Netherlands; Noise barriers; Noise, Transportation - adverse effects; Original; Questionnaires; RANCH; Ranches; Road traffic and Aircraft Noise exposure and children’s Cognition and Health: exposure-effect relationships and combined effects; road traffic noise; Roads; Roads & highways; Schools; Socioeconomic factors; the average continuous equivalent sound level within a certain area from 0700 to 2300 hours within a specified period; Tissues, organs and organisms biophysics; Traffic; Traffic estimation; Transportation noise; unit of A-weighted sound pressure level; where A-weighted means that the sound pressure levels in various frequency bands across the audible range have been weighted in accordance with differences in hearing sensitivity at different frequencies; United Kingdom; Netherlands; Europe; England; United Kingdom > UK; Human; Noise; Cardiac frequency; Exposure; Heart rate; Project; Air traffic; Arterial pressure; Blood pressure; Road traffic; Hemodynamics; Child; Public health
• ISSN: 1351-0711; 1470-7926
• DOI: 10.1136/oem.2006.026831

Background: Conclusions that can be drawn from earlier studies on noise and children’s blood pressure are limited due to inconsistent results, methodological problems, and the focus on school noise exposure. Objectives: To investigate the effects of aircraft and road traffic noise exposure on children’s blood pressure and heart rate. Methods: Participants were 1283 children (age 9–11 years) attending 62 primary schools around two European airports. Data were pooled and analysed using multilevel modelling. Adjustments were made for a range of socioeconomic and lifestyle factors. Results: After pooling the data, aircraft noise exposure at school was related to a statistically non-significant increase in blood pressure and heart rate. Aircraft noise exposure at home was related to a statistically significant increase in blood pressure. Aircraft noise exposure during the night at home was positively and significantly associated with blood pressure. The findings differed between the Dutch and British samples. Negative associations were found between road traffic noise exposure and blood pressure, which cannot be explained. Conclusion: On the basis of this study and previous scientific literature, no unequivocal conclusions can be drawn about the relationship between community noise and children’s blood pressure.