A new study found that people who were exposed to higher levels of airplane noise were more likely to have a higher body mass index, an indicator of obesity that can lead to strokes or hypertension. The findings highlight how the environment (and environmental injustices) can influence health outcomes.
Research has shown that noise from airplanes and helicopters flying overhead is much more annoying to people than noise from other modes of transportation, and a growing body of research suggests that airplane noise also contributes to health outcomes. negative for health.
One of the latest studies, led by the Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) and Oregon State University (OSU), indicates that airplane noise may increase the risk of developing cardiometabolic diseases, a set of conditions such as heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and hypertension.
Published in the magazine International Environment, the study found that people who were exposed to aircraft noise levels of 45 dB or higher were more likely to have a higher self-reported body mass index (BMI), and higher BMI measures were related to levels of aircraft noise of 55 dB or more. Exposure to aircraft noise at 45 dB or higher was also associated with higher BMI in middle and late adulthood from early adulthood. For comparison, the sound of a whisper is 30 dB, a library setting is 40 dB, and a typical conversation at home is 50 dB.
BMI is an indicator of general obesity, which can lead to cardiometabolic diseases, as well as a variety of other health problems. The study is the first to explore a connection between airplane noise exposure and obesity nationally in the United States; Previous studies on this topic have focused on European populations and the results have varied.
“Previous research has shown that airplane noise can elevate stress responses and disrupt sleep, but there has been conflicting evidence for any link with body mass index,” says study leader and corresponding author Dr. Matthew Bozigar, assistant professor of epidemiology at OSU. “We were surprised to see a pretty strong link between airplane noise and higher body mass index among women in the United States.”
These new findings underscore the role of the environment in chronic disease risk.
“Obesity has been highly stigmatized, but what’s important to remember is that it is linked to poor cardiometabolic health outcomes and has strong environmental factors,” says Dr. Bozigar. “This is discouraging, but also promising, in that we could potentially enact policies to mitigate these drivers of obesity.”
For the study, Dr. Bozigar and his colleagues examined airplane noise exposure and self-reported BMI and other individual characteristics among nearly 75,000 participants living around 90 major U.S. airports. Participants were selected from the Nurses’ Health Studies (NHS), ongoing prospective studies of American nurses who have completed biennial questionnaires since the 1970s and 1980s.
The team examined aircraft noise levels every five years between 1995 and 2010, using a day-night (DNL) estimate that captures the average noise level over a 24-hour period and applies a 10 dB adjustment for noise. of aircraft that occurs at night, when the background noise is low. The current policy-related threshold for significant acoustic impacts is above 65 dB DNL. The team evaluated BMI measurements at multiple thresholds below that (less than 45 dB; 45-54 dB; 55 dB and above; and continuous exposure to 45 dB or more) for the nurses’ geocoded home addresses.
Although the team acknowledges that BMI is a suboptimal metric, the strong, independent association between greater exposure to aircraft noise and higher BMI they observed is notable. There were also regional differences, with stronger associations between participants from the West Coast and those living in arid conditions.
“We can only hypothesize why we saw these regional variations, but one reason may be related to the era of regional development, building characteristics and climate, which can affect factors such as the age of housing, design and level of isolation,” says the study’s expert. author Dr. Junenette Peters, associate professor of environmental health at BUSPH. “Regional differences in temperature and humidity can influence behaviors such as window opening, so perhaps study participants living in the West were more exposed to aircraft noise due to open windows or housing type, which would be more likely to affect aircraft noise.” that allowed more noise to penetrate.
Similarly, the stronger associations seen in arid climates, many of which are also found in the western United States, may be related to the way noise propagates under various atmospheric conditions, Dr. Peters says.
Future research should further explore this link between aircraft noise exposure and obesity, as well as broader inequalities in environmental noise exposure, particularly among other populations. Previous data suggests that black, Hispanic, and low-income populations are disproportionately exposed to aircraft noise. Participants in the NHS study groups were primarily white and of middle socioeconomic status.
“We need to study the potential health impacts of environmental inequities in transportation noise exposure along with other environmental factors that lead to poor health outcomes,” says Dr. Bozigar. “There is much more to discover, but this study adds evidence to a growing body of literature that noise negatively affects health.”