Association between environmental noise and subjective symptoms related to cardiovascular diseases among elderly individuals in Japan.

Kenichi Azuma,Iwao Uchiyama

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0188236

Kenichi Azuma, Iwao Uchiyama

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0188236

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Abstract

Noise in housing environments may increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs); however, the most significant sources of noise among elderly individuals remain poorly understood. A nationwide cross-sectional study comprised of 6,181 elderly people (age ≥ 65 years) was conducted using a web-based self-reported questionnaire in 2014. Questions pertaining to CVD-related subjective symptoms within the past year addressed symptoms of chest pain, disturbances in pulse, acute impaired tongue movement, limb paralysis, and foot pain or numbness during walking. Questions concerning noise included awakening during the night due to noise, automobile, neighborhood, construction, railway, and aircraft noise. The multivariable analyses revealed that all symptoms were significantly associated with awakening during the night due to noise. Automobile, construction, railway, and aircraft noise were significantly associated with more CVD-related symptoms at nighttime than at daytime. Our results suggest that noise at nighttime is an important risk factor for CVDs. Although several different sources of environmental noise, including automobile, neighborhood, construction, railway, and aircraft noise were found to be significantly associated with CVD-related symptoms, the strongest association was observed for construction noise, followed by neighborhood and automobile noise. The adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for construction noise at nighttime were 1.12 (1.06–1.19) with disturbances in pulse, 1.21 (1.08–1.35) in acute impaired tongue movement, 1.25 (1.15–1.36) in limb paralysis, and 1.19 (1.12–1.28) in foot pain or numbness during walking. The associations with railway and aircraft noise were found to be weaker than those with automobile, neighborhood, and construction noise. Our study suggests that CVD-related symptoms may exhibit a greater association with construction, neighborhood, and automobile noise than with railway and aircraft noise.

Highlights

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) continue to be the leading cause of death and a major source of health disparities in both Japan and throughout the world [1,2,3]
All CVD-related symptoms were significantly associated with awakening during the night due to noise in all models
Our findings suggested that relationships between sources of environmental noise annoyance and CVDs under treatment were not significant

Summary

Introduction

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) continue to be the leading cause of death and a major source of health disparities in both Japan and throughout the world [1,2,3]. Multiple studies have documented associations between risk of CVD and neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics (e.g., diet, smoking, physical activity, psychosocial aspects, and environmental factors) [4]. Epidemiological studies have indicated that environmental noise is an important risk factor for CVDs in housing, and indicated that exposure to noise from various sources (e.g., residential neighborhoods, workplaces, road traffic, railway, and aircraft) is associated with CVDs and CVD risk factors, including obesity and hypertension [7,8,9,10,11]. A recent meta-analysis suggested that individuals over 65 years of age had a higher risk of developing ischemic heart disease (IHD) compared to those under 65 years following exposure to road and aircraft noise [9]

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