High spatial resolution health risk assessment of road traffic noise on ischemic heart disease deaths for Melbourne, Australia in 2011

Abstract

TPS 781: Health effects of noise, Exhibition Hall, Ground floor, August 27, 2019, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Introduction: Road traffic noise pollution increases risk of mortality from ischemic heart disease (IHD). Noise pollution is highly localized, so high resolution mapping of the exposure surface is a key concern. For health impact assessments optimally the data on exposure and health outcomes would both be available at small-area level. However, in Australia IHD deaths data are only easily accessed at low resolution, aggregated to local government areas (LGA, mean ~130,000 people). Our method utilizes low-resolution health data with high spatial resolution noise mapping for producing health risk maps at the mesh-block level (MB, ~75 people). Methods: We used a noise contour map for Melbourne, Australia from 2011 based on a spatial predictive model to estimate population exposures at the MB level. We used the non-linear exposure–response function for traffic noise and IHD as recommended by the World Health Organization to calculate attributable fractions of deaths for MBs. LGA-level IHD rates were then downscaled to MBs using publicly available data to estimate attributable numbers. Results: Average noise exposures for MBs was 35 dB and peaked at 72 dB. Approximately 5% of the population was exposed to traffic noise above the threshold of 55 dB. Attributable rates of IHD deaths due to noise were generally very low but in some MBs was as high as 5-10 per 100,000 and in extreme cases can represent more than 8% of the total expected burden of IHD death. Conclusion: Road traffic noise is a public health concern because it increases risk for IHD death. We present a method that does not require high resolution health data and can be used with high resolution exposure data to provide estimates of health risk. This method could be applied in a wide range of other environmental health settings.