Abstract
BackgroundPrevious research suggests that children born prematurely or with a low birth weight are more vulnerable to the mental health effects of ambient neighbourhood noise; predominantly road and rail noise, at home. This study used data from the Road Traffic and Aircraft Noise Exposure and Children's Cognition and Health (RANCH) study to see if this finding extends to aircraft and road traffic noise at school.MethodsChildren and their parents from schools around three European airports were selected to represent a range of aircraft and road traffic noise exposure levels. Birth weight and gestation period were merged to create a dichotomous variable assessing 'early biological risk'. Mental health was assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Complete data were available for 1900 primary school children.ResultsChildren who were 'at risk' (i.e. low birth weight or premature birth) were rated as having more conduct problems and emotional symptoms and poorer overall mental health than children not at risk. However, there was no interaction between aircraft or road traffic noise exposure at school and early biological risk.ConclusionsData from the RANCH study suggests that children with early biological risk are not more vulnerable to the effects of aircraft or road traffic noise at school on mental health than children without this risk; however they are more likely to have mental ill-health.
Highlights
Previous research suggests that children born prematurely or with a low birth weight are more vulnerable to the mental health effects of ambient neighbourhood noise; predominantly road and rail noise, at home
The aim of this study is to investigate whether early biological risk moderates the relationship between road traffic noise or aircraft noise at school and mental health
Further there are a higher percentage of females, and children with unemployed and nonhome owning parents with early biological risk compared to the no early biological risk category
Summary
Previous research suggests that children born prematurely or with a low birth weight are more vulnerable to the mental health effects of ambient neighbourhood noise; predominantly road and rail noise, at home. The RANCH study is the largest epidemiological study to date to look at the effects of aircraft and road traffic noise at school on cognition and health in children [4,7,8]. The findings from the RANCH study regarding associations between aircraft and road traffic noise at school and mental health have been reported elsewhere [12]. They showed that aircraft noise at school was associated with increased parent-rated hyperactivity, and unexpectedly that road traffic noise at school was associated with reduced parent-rated conduct problems. Peer problems and prosocial behaviour were not related to noise levels at school
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