The impact of aircraft noise on vascular and cardiac function in relation to noise event number: a randomized trial

Abstract Aims Nighttime aircraft noise exposure has been associated with increased risk of hypertension and myocardial infarction, mechanistically linked to sleep disturbance, stress, and endothelial dysfunction. It is unclear, whether the most widely used metric to determine noise exposure, equivalent continuous sound level (Leq), is an adequate indicator of the cardiovascular impact induced by different noise patterns. Methods and results In a randomized crossover study, we exposed 70 individuals with established cardiovascular disease or increased cardiovascular risk to two aircraft noise scenarios and one control scenario. Polygraphic recordings, echocardiography, and flow-mediated dila…

Is the risk of childhood leukaemia associated with socioeconomic measures in Denmark? A nationwide register‐based case‐control study

The aetiology of childhood leukaemia is poorly understood. Knowledge about differences in risk by socioeconomic status (SES) may enhance etiologic insights. We conducted a nationwide register-based case-control study to evaluate socioeconomic differences in the risk of childhood leukaemia in Denmark and to access whether associations varied by different measures of SES, time point of assessment, leukaemia type and age at diagnosis. We identified all cases of leukaemia in children aged 0 to 19 years, born and diagnosed between 1980 and 2013 from the Danish Cancer Registry (N = 1336) and sampled four individually matched controls per case (N = 5330). We used conditional logistic regression mo…

Air Pollution Exposure During Pregnancy and Symptoms of Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder in Children in Europe

Background: Exposure to air pollution during pregnancy may increase attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in children, but findings have been inconsistent. We aimed to study this association in a collaborative study of eight European population-based birth/child cohorts, including 29,127 mother-child pairs. Methods: Air pollution concentrations (nitrogen dioxide [NO2] and particulate matter [PM]) were estimated at the birth address by land-use regression models based on monitoring campaigns performed between 2008 and 2011. We extrapolated concentrations back in time to exact pregnancy periods. Teachers or parents assessed ADHD symptoms at 3-10 years of age. We classified …

Exacerbation of adverse cardiovascular effects of aircraft noise in an animal model of arterial hypertension

Arterial hypertension is the most important risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease. Recently, aircraft noise has been shown to be associated with elevated blood pressure, endothelial dysfunction, and oxidative stress. Here, we investigated the potential exacerbated cardiovascular effects of aircraft noise in combination with experimental arterial hypertension. C57BL/6J mice were infused with 0.5 mg/kg/d of angiotensin II for 7 days, exposed to aircraft noise for 7 days at a maximum sound pressure level of 85 dB(A) and a mean sound pressure level of 72 dB(A), or subjected to both stressors. Noise and angiotensin II increased blood pressure, endothelial dysfunction, oxidati…

Individual and neighbourhood socioeconomic measures and the risk of non-central nervous system solid tumours in children: A nationwide register-based case-control study in Denmark

Abstract Background The aetiology for most solid tumours in childhood is largely unknown. The lack of evidence concerns also the relationship between socioeconomic position (SEP) and risk of childhood solid tumours other than in the central nervous system (CNS). We sought to access the association between individual and neighbourhood SEP measures and risk of childhood non-CNS solid tumours in Denmark and to evaluate whether associations varied by measure of SEP, time point of SEP assessment (during pregnancy versus before diagnosis) and tumour type. Methods We conducted a nationwide case-control study based on Danish registry data. We identified all children born in 1980–2013 and diagnosed …

Long-term residential road traffic noise and mortality in a Danish cohort.

Transportation noise is a growing public health concern worldwide and epidemiological evidence has linked road traffic noise with mortality. However, incongruent effect estimates have been reported between incidence and mortality studies. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate whether long-term exposure to residential road traffic noise at the most and least exposed façades was associated with all-cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD), ischemic heart disease (IHD), stroke, respiratory, or cancer mortality in a Danish cohort study. In a cohort of 52,758 individuals from Copenhagen and Aarhus, we estimated road traffic noise at the most and least exposed façades, as well as ambient a…

Heart healthy cities : Genetics loads the gun but the environment pulls the trigger

Abstract The world’s population is estimated to reach 10 billion by 2050 and 75% of this population will live in cities. Two-third of the European population already live in urban areas and this proportion continues to grow. Between 60% and 80% of the global energy use is consumed by urban areas, with 70% of the greenhouse gas emissions produced within urban areas. The World Health Organization states that city planning is now recognized as a critical part of a comprehensive solution to tackle adverse health outcomes. In the present review, we address non-communicable diseases with a focus on cardiovascular disease and the urbanization process in relation to environmental risk exposures inc…

Traffic-related environmental risk factors and their impact on oxidative stress and cardiovascular health

Abstract The adverse effects of the environment on health are increasingly recognized. The WHO estimates that noise accounts for 1 million annually lost healthy life years in Western Europe due to increased incidence of hypertension, heart failure, myocardial infarction, and stroke. An even more severe health impact was reported for air pollution (e.g., PM2.5) accounting for up to 800,000 annual excess deaths in Europe. Adverse effects of air pollution are mechanistically better characterized, but there is still a great need to understand the pathophysiology of air pollution-induced cardiovascular disease, especially the potential synergistic effects together with noise. With the present bo…

Road Traffic Noise Exposure and Filled Prescriptions for Antihypertensive Medication:A Danish Cohort Study

BACKGROUND: Epidemiological research on effects of transportation noise on incident hypertension is inconsistent. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to investigate whether residential road traffic noise increases the risk for hypertension. METHODS: In a population-based cohort of 57,053 individuals 50-64 years of age at enrollment, we identified 21,241 individuals who fulfilled our case definition of filling formula presented prescriptions and formula presented defined daily doses of antihypertensive drugs (AHTs) within a year, during a mean follow-up time of 14.0 y. Residential addresses from 1987 to 2016 were obtained from national registers, and road traffic noise at the most exposed façade as well as…

Long-Term Exposure to Transportation Noise and Risk for Type 2 Diabetes in a Nationwide Cohort Study from Denmark

Background: Epidemiologic studies have linked transportation noise to increased morbidity and mortality, particularly for cardiovascular outcomes. However, studies investigating metabolic outcomes such as diabetes are limited and have focused only on noise exposures estimated for the loudest residential façade. Objectives: We aimed to examine the influence of long-term residential exposure to transportation noise at the loudest and quietest residential façades and the risk for type 2 diabetes. Methods: Road traffic and railway noise exposures (Lden) at the most and least exposed façades were estimated for all dwellings in Denmark during 1990–2017. Aircraft noise was estimated in 5-dB catego…

Long-term exposure to transportation noise and risk for atrial fibrillation: A Danish nationwide cohort study.

Background: Epidemiological studies have linked transportation noise and cardiovascular diseases, however, atrial fibrillation (AF) has received limited attention. We aimed to investigate the association between transportation noise and AF risk. Methods: Over the period 1990–2017 we estimated road and railway noise (L den) at the most and least exposed façades for all residential addresses across Denmark. We estimated time-weighted mean noise exposure for 3.6 million individuals age ≥35 years. Of these, 269,756 incident cases of AF were identified with a mean follow-up of 13.0 years. Analyses were conducted using Cox proportional hazards models with adjustment for individual and area-level …

Transportation noise and gestational diabetes mellitus: A nationwide cohort study from Denmark

Background: Few studies have investigated whether road traffic noise is associated with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), and have yielded inconsistent findings. We aimed to investigate whether maternal exposure to residential transportation noise, before and during pregnancy, was associated with GDM in a nationwide cohort. Methods: From the Danish population (2004–2017) we identified 629,254 pregnancies using the Danish Medical Birth Register. By linkage with the National Patient Registry, we identified 15,973 pregnancies complicated by GDM. Road traffic and railway noise (Lden) at the most and least exposed façades for all residential addresses from five years before pregnancy until bi…

Air pollution exposure at the residence and risk of childhood cancers in Denmark:A nationwide register-based case-control study

Background: The etiology of childhood cancer is poorly understood. The role of environmental factors, including air pollution (AP) exposure, has been addressed previously, but results so far have been inconclusive. In this study, we investigate the association between long-term AP exposures in relation to childhood cancer subtypes in Denmark (1981–2013). Methods: We conducted a nationwide register-based case-control study. We identified 7745 incident cases of childhood cancers (<20 years) in the Danish Cancer Registry. Four randomly selected (cancer-free) controls were matched to each case according to sex and date of birth. We modelled concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), fine part…

Annoyance to different noise sources is associated with atrial fibrillation in the Gutenberg Health Study

Abstract Background Annoyance is a common reaction in populations exposed to environmental noise and is associated with cardiovascular diseases. We investigated for the first time the existence of an association between noise annoyance and atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods and results Cross-sectional data from 14,639 participants of the Gutenberg Health Study were collected between 2007 and 2012. Annoyance from road traffic, aircraft, railways, industrial/construction and neighbourhood noise during daytime and sleep were collected from all participants through questionnaires using a 5-point scale. AF was assessed via self-reported medical history and/or documentation of AF on the study elec…

Environmental stressors and cardiovascular disease: the evidence is growing

The "exposome" concept - how environmental risk factors influence cardiovascular health.

There is general consensus that environmental pollution and non-chemical stressors contribute to the incidence and prevalence of chronic noncommunicable disease (e.g. cardiovascular, metabolic and mental). Clinical and epidemiological studies support that air pollution and traffic noise are associated with a higher risk for cardiovascular disease and significantly contribute to overall mortality. In this respect, the “exposome” provides a comprehensive description of lifelong exposure history. A recent publication using an updated global exposure-mortality model found that the global all-cause mortality rate attributable to ambient air pollution by PM2.5 and O3 was 8.79 (95% CI 7.11–10.41) …

Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) Phase 4 (2018): Change management in allergic rhinitis and asthma multimorbidity using mobile technology

Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) has evolved from a guideline by using the best approach to integrated care pathways using mobile technology in patients with allergic rhinitis (AR) and asthma multimorbidity. The proposed next phase of ARIA is change management, with the aim of providing an active and healthy life to patients with rhinitis and to those with asthma multimorbidity across the lifecycle irrespective of their sex or socioeconomic status to reduce health and social inequities incurred by the disease. ARIA has followed the 8-step model of Kotter to assess and implement the effect of rhinitis on asthma multimorbidity and to propose multimorbid guidelines. A second c…

The Adverse Effects of Environmental Noise Exposure on Oxidative Stress and Cardiovascular Risk

Abstract Epidemiological studies have provided evidence that traffic noise exposure is linked to cardiovascular diseases such as arterial hypertension, myocardial infarction, and stroke. Noise is a nonspecific stressor that activates the autonomous nervous system and endocrine signaling. According to the noise reaction model introduced by Babisch and colleagues, chronic low levels of noise can cause so-called nonauditory effects, such as disturbances of activity, sleep, and communication, which can trigger a number of emotional responses, including annoyance and subsequent stress. Chronic stress in turn is associated with cardiovascular risk factors, comprising increased blood pressure and …

Environmental risk factors and cardiovascular diseases: a comprehensive expert review.

Abstract Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are fatal for more than 38 million people each year and are thus the main contributors to the global burden of disease accounting for 70% of mortality. The majority of these deaths are caused by cardiovascular disease (CVD). The risk of NCDs is strongly associated with exposure to environmental stressors such as pollutants in the air, noise exposure, artificial light at night, and climate change, including heat extremes, desert storms, and wildfires. In addition to the traditional risk factors for CVD such as diabetes, arterial hypertension, smoking, hypercholesterolaemia, and genetic predisposition, there is a growing body of evidence showing that …

Reduction of environmental pollutants for prevention of cardiovascular disease: it’s time to act

Abstract

Environmental Noise and the Cardiovascular System

Abstract Noise has been found associated with annoyance, stress, sleep disturbance, and impaired cognitive performance. Furthermore, epidemiological studies have found that environmental noise is associated with an increased incidence of arterial hypertension, myocardial infarction, heart failure, and stroke. Observational and translational studies indicate that especially nighttime noise increases levels of stress hormones and vascular oxidative stress, which may lead to endothelial dysfunction and arterial hypertension. Novel experimental studies found aircraft noise to be associated with oxidative stress–induced vascular damage, mediated by activation of the NADPH oxidase, uncoupling of …

Transportation noise and risk of stroke: a nationwide prospective cohort study covering Denmark

AbstractBackgroundStudies on transportation noise and incident stroke are few and inconclusive. We aimed to investigate associations between road-traffic and railway noise and the risk of incident stroke in the entire Danish population.MethodsWe estimated road-traffic and railway noise (Lden) at the most and least exposed façades for all residential addresses across Denmark (2.8 million) for the period 1990–2017. Based on this, we estimated the 10-year time-weighted mean noise exposure for 3.6 million Danes aged >35 years, of whom 184 523 developed incident stroke during follow-up from 2000 to 2017. Analyses were conducted using Cox proportional-hazards models, with adjustment for va…

Residential Exposure to PM2.5 Components and Risk of Childhood Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in Denmark: A Nationwide Register-Based Case-Control Study

In a recent study, we observed an increased risk of childhood non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) associated with exposure to fine atmospheric particulate matter (PM2.5) and black carbon (BC). In this nationwide register-based case-control study, we focus on specific components of PM2.5 in relation to childhood NHL in Denmark (1981&ndash