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Long-term exposure to residential transportation noise and mortality: A nationwide cohort study

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  • Mette Sørensen, Danish Cancer Society, Department of Natural Science and Environment
  • ,
  • Ole Raaschou-Nielsen
  • Aslak Harbo Poulsen, Danish Cancer Society
  • ,
  • Ulla Arthur Hvidtfeldt, Danish Cancer Society
  • ,
  • Jørgen Brandt
  • Jibran Khan
  • Steen Solvang Jensen
  • Thomas Münzel, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
  • ,
  • Jesse Daniel Thacher, Danish Cancer Society, Lund University, Department of Laboratory Medicine

Studies have indicated that transportation noise is associated with higher cardiovascular mortality, whereas evidence of noise as a risk factor for respiratory and cancer mortality is scarce and inconclusive. Also, knowledge on effects of low-level noise on mortality is very limited. We aimed to investigate associations between road and railway noise and natural-cause and cause-specific mortality in the Danish population. We estimated address-specific road and railway noise at the most (LdenMax) and least (LdenMin) exposed façades for all residential addresses in Denmark from 1990 to 2017 using high-quality exposure models. Using these data, we calculated 10-year time-weighted mean noise exposure for 2.6 million Danes aged >50 years, of whom 600,492 died from natural causes during a mean follow-up of 11.7 years. We analyzed data using Cox proportional hazards models with adjustment for individual and area-level sociodemographic variables and air pollution (PM2.5 and NO2). We found that a 10-year mean exposure to road LdenMax and road LdenMin per 10 dB were associated with hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) of, respectively, 1.09 (1.09; 1.10) and 1.10 (1.10; 1.11) for natural-cause mortality, 1.09 (1.08; 1.10) and 1.09 (1.08; 1.10) for cardiovascular mortality, 1.13 (1.12; 1.14) and 1.17 (1.16; 1.19) for respiratory mortality and 1.03 (1.02; 1.03) and 1.06 (1.05; 1.07) for cancer mortality. For LdenMax, the associations followed linear exposure-response relationships from 35 dB to 60–<65 dB, after which the function levelled off. For LdenMin, exposure-response relationships were linear from 35 dB and up, with some levelling off at high noise levels for natural-cause and cardiovascular mortality. Railway noise did not seem associated with higher mortality in an exposure-response dependent manner. In conclusion, road traffic noise was associated with higher mortality and the increase in risk started well below the current World Health Organization guideline limit for road traffic noise of 53 dB.

Original languageEnglish
Article number121642
JournalEnvironmental Pollution
Volume328
ISSN0269-7491
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier Ltd

    Research areas

  • Cancer mortality, Cardiovascular mortality, Exposure-response curve, Railway noise, Respiratory mortality, Road traffic noise

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