Associations between nighttime aircraft noise exposure and insufficient sleep in the US-based prospective Nurses’ Health Study cohort

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Chronic sleep disturbances leading to short sleep duration have been linked to chronic diseases (e.g., cardiovascular disease, hypertension). Aircraft noise may contribute to sleep disruption, indicating a potential pathway to chronic disease. However, multivariable-adjusted and longitudinal relationships have infrequently been studied in a large sample of adults. This study investigates associations between nighttime aircraft noise and insufficient sleep in the US-based Nurses’ Health Study (NHS). METHODS: Nighttime aircraft noise levels (LAeqN) were modeled for 90 U.S. airports from 1995-2015 in 5-year intervals using U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Aviation Environmental Design Tool (AEDT) and linked to geocoded participants’ residential addresses for 2000, 2002, 2008, 2012, and 2014 (years when self-reported habitual sleep duration was available). Participants were classified as exposed if they lived at addresses with modeled LAeqN ≥45 decibels (dB). Sleep duration was classified as insufficient if ≤6 hours per night. A repeated measures analysis was conducted using generalized estimating equations. Multivariable models adjusted for participant-level demographics, behaviors, comorbidities, and ambient fine particulate matter. RESULTS:In 2000, the 35,226 female participants were on average 66.1 years old. The proportion of participants with insufficient sleep varied from 29.6% in 2000 to 37.0% in 2014. The percent exposed to nighttime aircraft noise varied from 1.5% to 0.6%. In age-adjusted longitudinal models the odds of insufficient sleep were 33.1% higher (95% CI: 17.0%, 51.6%) for those exposed to nighttime aircraft noise compared with those not exposed, and the association remained after multivariable adjustment (25.3% higher odds; 95% CI: 10.1%, 42.7%). CONCLUSIONS:Elevated nighttime aircraft noise was associated with shorter sleep duration in the NHS cohort. The relationship was robust after controlling for multiple confounders and with increased insufficient sleep and decreased aircraft noise exposure over time. Future research will investigate sleep quality as an additional sleep outcome. KEYWORDS: noise, epidemiology, environmental epidemiology