Long-term aircraft noise exposure and risk of hypertension in postmenopausal women

Abstract

Background: Studies of the association between aircraft noise and hypertension are complicated by inadequate control for potential confounders and a lack of longitudinal assessments, and existing evidence is inconclusive.

Objectives: We evaluated the association between long-term aircraft noise exposure and risk of hypertension among post-menopausal women in the Women's Health Initiative Clinical Trials, an ongoing prospective U.S.

Methods: Day-night average (DNL) and night equivalent sound levels (L_night) were modeled for 90 U.S. airports from 1995 to 2010 in 5-year intervals using the Aviation Environmental Design Tool and linked to participant geocoded addresses from 1993 to 2010. Participants with modeled exposures ≥45 A-weighted decibels (dB [A]) were considered exposed, and those outside of 45 dB(A) who also did not live in close proximity to unmodeled airports were considered unexposed. Hypertension was defined as systolic/diastolic blood pressure ≥140/90 mmHg or inventoried/self-reported antihypertensive medication use. Using time-varying Cox proportional hazards models, we estimated hazard ratios (HRs) for incident hypertension when exposed to DNL or L_night ≥45 versus <45 dB(A), controlling for sociodemographic, behavioral, and environmental/contextual factors.

Results/discussion: There were 18,783 participants with non-missing DNL exposure and 14,443 with non-missing L_night exposure at risk of hypertension. In adjusted models, DNL and L_night ≥45 db(A) were associated with HRs of 1.00 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.93, 1.08) and 1.06 (95%CI: 0.91, 1.24), respectively. There was no evidence supporting a positive exposure-response relationship, and findings were robust in sensitivity analyses. Indications of elevated risk were seen among certain subgroups, such as those living in areas with lower population density (HR_interaction: 0.84; 95%CI: 0.72, 0.98) or nitrogen dioxide concentrations (HR_interaction: 0.82; 95%CI: 0.71, 0.95), which may indicate lower ambient/road traffic noise. Our findings do not suggest a relationship between aircraft noise and incident hypertension among older women in the U.S., though associations in lower ambient noise settings merit further investigation.

Keywords: Aircraft; Aircraft noise exposure; Hypertension; Noise.