Noise pollution, more specifically traffic noise, may be linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. This is what a study published on Friday (26) in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation Research suggests.
The research was carried out by an international group of noise experts from the Copenhagen Cancer Institute (Denmark), the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Philadelphia (USA) and the Department of Cardiology at Mainz University Medical Center. They analyzed recent epidemiological data and found strong evidence that transport noise is closely linked to cardiovascular and brain diseases.
Recent epidemiological studies have shown that traffic noise, such as road, rail or aircraft noise, increases the risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, with evidence for the development of cardiometabolic diseases such as ischemic heart disease, heart failure, stroke and diabetes.
According to the WHO (World Health Organization), more than 1.6 million years of healthy life are lost every year in Western Europe due to traffic-related noise. Night-time traffic noise, in particular, leads to frequent interruptions in sleep, increased stress levels and increased oxidative stress in the vascular system and brain. This increases the formation of free radicals, which can be associated with the development of various diseases, such as vascular disorders, inflammation and hypertension.
For the current study, the team of researchers focused on the indirect effects that traffic-related noise pollution could cause – in other words, non-auditory effects. To do this, they carried out an analysis of the most recent scientific evidence on the subject.
According to the authors, a recent analysis on traffic noise and cardiovascular disease integrated into the review article impressively demonstrates that for every 10 dBa, the risk of developing cardiovascular disease increases significantly by 3.2%.
According to the researchers, noise can have effects on genetic networks, epigenetic pathways, circadian rhythm, signaling along the neuronal-cardiovascular axis, oxidative stress, inflammation and metabolism.
“With an increasing proportion of the population exposed to harmful traffic noise, even after the end of the COVID pandemic, noise control efforts and noise abatement laws are of great importance for future public health,” summarizes the paper’s lead author, Thomas Münzel, senior lecturer at the University Medical Center Mainz. “It is also important to us that traffic noise is now finally recognized as a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases due to the strong evidence,” he adds. (CNE Brazil).
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