Long term exposure to aircraft noise, particularly during the night, is linked to an increased risk of developing high blood pressure and possibly heart flutter and stroke as well, suggests research published online in Occupational & Environmental Medicine.

This white paper summarizes the state of the science of noise effects research in the areas noise measurement and prediction, community annoyance, children’s learning, sleep disturbance, and health.

Observational and experimental studies have shown that noise exposure leads to annoyance, disturbs sleep and causes daytime sleepiness, affects patient outcomes and staff performance in hospitals, increases the occurrence of hypertension and cardiovascular disease, and impairs cognitive performance in schoolchildren. In this Review, we stress the importance of adequate noise prevention and mitigation strategies for public health.

This review focuses on the cardiovascular consequences of environmental noise exposure and stresses the importance of noise mitigation strategies for public health.

In this small area study covering a population of 3.6 million people living near Heathrow airport in London, [the authors] identified significant excess risks of stroke, coronary heart disease, and cardiovascular disease, especially among the 2% of the population affected by the highest levels of daytime and night time aircraft noise.

Despite limitations related to potential misclassification of exposure, we found a statistically significant association between exposure to aircraft noise and risk of hospitalization for cardiovascular diseases among older people living near airports.

The chapters contain the summary of synthesized reviews of evidence on the relationship between environmental noise and specific health effects, including cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment, sleep disturbance and tinnitus. A chapter on annoyance is also included.

Aircraft noise was associated with mortality from myocardial infarction, with a dose-response relationship for level and duration of exposure. The association does not appear to be explained by exposure to particulate matter air pollution, education, or socioeconomic status of the municipality.

In residential areas, outdoor aircraft noise-induced equivalent noise levels of 60 dB(A) in the daytime and 45 dB(A) at night are associated with an increased incidence of hypertension. There is a dose-response relationship between aircraft noise and the occurrence of arterial hypertension. The prescription frequency of blood pressure-lowering medications is associated dose-dependently with aircraft noise from a level of about 45 dB(A). Around 25% of the population are greatly annoyed by exposure to noise of 55 dB(A) during the daytime. Exposure to 50 dB(A) in the daytime (outside) is associated with relevant learning difficulties in schoolchildren.

This study compared the effects of road, rail, and aircraft noise and tested the applicability of the equivalent noise level for the evaluation of sleep disturbances.