Photo credit: Nancy Bourque
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
“Environmental risks escalate cardiovascular disease burden, experts warn.” That’s the headline of an article from the American Journal of Managed Care by reporter Maggie Shaw. Shaw reported on a joint session of the European Society of Cardiology and the World Heart Federation at this year’s ESC Congress.
Current ESC president Franz Weidinger noted that “ … environmental risk factors are becoming more important for cardiovascular disease. And this environmental risk is increasing over time.” Thomas Münzel from Mainz, Germany discussed transportation noise as a cardiovascular risk factor. The European Environmental Agency calculated that transportation noise accounted for 900,000 cases of hypertension, 43,000 hospital admissions and 6.5 million cases of sleep disturbance. Uninterrupted sleep is very important for health. In addition to disrupting sleep, unwanted noise is stressful. It causes a cascade of physiological events ultimately leading to cardiovascular disease and increased mortality. Dorairaj Prabhakaran discussed how rising temperatures increase cardiovascular disease. He and Andreas Daiber reviewed data showing how particulate matter affects cardiovascular disease.
The bottom line is that environmental risk factors, including those associated with climate change, are increasing cardiovascular disease. The World Health Organization has updated its recommendations for transportation and leisure noise levels in the European region. I hope the Environmental Protection Agency provides similar updates of safe noise levels here and enforces federal noise emission standards for products distributed in commerce, fulfilling the Congressional mandate of the Noise Control Act of 1972.
A quieter world will be a better and healthier world for all.
