Photo credit: Kaique Rocha
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
The News Medical Life Sciences website reports on two studies presented at the current meeting of the European Society of Cardiology. The studies show that urban noise pollution was associated with adverse heart health outcomes. A study from Bremen, Germany found that younger patients admitted to the hospital with heart attacks lived in neighborhoods with higher noise levels than average. Patients with low levels of cardiac risk as measured by standard risk assessment tools had greater noise exposure, suggesting that noise exposure needed to be added to standard risk assessment protocols.
A study from France measured noise levels in the homes of patients admitted with MACE, a composite measure of Major Adverse Cardiac Outcomes. This includes cardiac death, rehospitalization for heart failure, recurrent myocardial infarction (heart attack), emergency revascularization, stroke, heart attack, angina and/or unstable angina. Noise exposure levels were moderate, 56 A-weighted decibels (dBA) average for 24 hours and 49 dBA at night. There was a 25% increase in cardiac risk for each 10 dBA increase in nighttime noise.
Nighttime noise has particularly bad effects on sleep, which in turn adversely affects health. In Europe, health authorities are aware of the adverse effects of transportation noise. The World Health Organization has recommended levels of noise exposure to protect the health of European populations. In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration allows people living near airports and under flight paths to be exposed to aviation noise levels calculated to be unsafe by the Environmental Protection Agency.
What will it take for American legislators and regulators to recognize that noise pollution is negatively impacting heart health?
