Can exposure to noise affect the 24 h blood pressure profile? Results from the HYENA study

• Published in: Journal of epidemiology and community health (1979) Vol. 65; no. 6; pp. 535 - 541
• Main Authors: Haralabidis, Alexandros S, Dimakopoulou, Konstantina, Velonaki, Venetia, Barbaglia, Giorgio, Mussin, Mauro, Giampaolo, Matteo, Selander, Jenny, Pershagen, Goran, Dudley, Marie-Louise, Babisch, Wolfgang, Swart, Wim, Katsouyanni, Klea, Jarup, Lars
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 01.06.2011; BMJ Publishing Group; BMJ Publishing Group LTD
• Subjects: Aged; Aircraft; Aircraft noise; Airports; Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring; Biological and medical sciences; Blood pressure; Blood Pressure - physiology; Blood Pressure Determination; blood pressure dipping; Environmental Exposure - adverse effects; Environmental Exposure - analysis; environmental noise; Europe; Female; General aspects; Humans; Hypertension; Hypotheses; Laboratories; Linear Models; Male; Medical sciences; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Nervous system; Noise; Noise barriers; Noise measurement; Noise, Transportation - adverse effects; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Quality; Regression analysis; Research report; Roads; sleep; Tobacco chewing; Traffic; Traffic estimation; Transportation noise; Europe; Medicine; Arterial pressure; Exposure; Noise pollution; Blood pressure; Hemodynamics; Public health; Result
• ISSN: 0143-005X; 1470-2738; 1470-2738
• DOI: 10.1136/jech.2009.102954

ObjectiveTo study the association between exposure to transportation noise and blood pressure (BP) reduction during nighttime sleep.Methods24-h ambulatory BP measurements at 15-min intervals were carried out on 149 persons living near four major European airports. Noise indicators included total and source-specific equivalent indoor noise, total number of noise events, annoyance scores for aircraft and road traffic nighttime noise. Long-term noise exposure was also determined. Multivariate linear regression analysis was applied.ResultsThe pooled estimates show that the only noise indicator associated consistently with a decrease in BP dipping is road traffic noise. The effect shows that a 5 dB increase in measured road traffic noise during the study night is associated with 0.8% (−1.55, −0.05) less dipping in diastolic BP. Noise from aircraft was not associated with a decrease in dipping, except for a non-significant decrease noted in Athens, where the aircraft noise was higher. Noise from indoor sources did not affect BP dipping.ConclusionsRoad traffic noise exposure may be associated with a decrease in dipping. Noise from aircraft was not found to affect dipping in a consistent way across centres and indoor noise was not associated with dipping.