Self-Reported Sleep Disturbance from Road, Rail and Aircraft Noise: Exposure-Response Relationships and Effect Modifiers in the SiRENE Study.

Brink Brink,Thiesse Thiesse,Wunderli Wunderli,Vienneau Vienneau,Foraster Foraster,Probst-Hensch Probst-Hensch,Röösli Röösli,Eze Eze,Schäffer Schäffer,Pieren Pieren,Cajochen Cajochen,Rudzik Rudzik

doi:10.3390/ijerph16214186

Abstract

This survey investigates the cross-sectional association between nighttime road, rail and aircraft noise exposure and the probability to be highly sleep disturbed (%HSD), as measured by self-report in postal and online questionnaires. As part of the Swiss SiRENE study, a total of 5592 survey participants in the entire country were selected based on a stratified random sample of their dwelling. Self-reported sleep disturbance was measured using an ICBEN-style 5-point verbal scale. The survey was carried out in four waves at different times of the year. Source-specific noise exposure was calculated for several façade points for each dwelling. After adjustment for potential confounders, all three noise sources showed a statistically significant association between the nighttime noise level LNight at the most exposed façade point and the probability to report high sleep disturbance, as determined by logistic regression. The association was strongest for aircraft noise and weakest for road traffic noise. We a priori studied the role of a range of effect modifiers, including the “eventfulness” of noise exposure, expressed as the Intermittency Ratio (IR) metric, bedroom window position, bedroom orientation towards the closest street, access to a quiet side of the dwelling, degree of urbanization, sleep timing factors (bedtime and sleep duration), sleep medication intake, survey season and night air temperature. While bedroom orientation exhibited a strong moderating effect, with an Leq-equivalent of nearly 20 dB if the bedroom faces away from the nearest street, the LNight-%HSD associations were not affected by bedroom window position, sleep timing factors, survey season, or temperature.

Highlights

Noise from road, rail and air traffic makes up the major part of total environmental noise, and it is well recognized that noise exposure has an important impact on public health [1].The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated the burden of disease from environmental noise to be largely determined by noise-induced sleep disturbance, with more than 900,000 disability-adjusted life years (DALY) lost each year in western Europe due to noise at night, with road traffic being responsible for the largest fraction of this burden [2]
Results revealed that noteworthy effects of Intermittency Ratio (IR) appear with road traffic noise at () higher LNight levels, and with aircraft noise up to about 50 dB(A), where in both cases, according to expectation, noise scenarios with higher IR were associated with higher %HSD
We found that exposure-response models of railway noise yield higher explained variance than road traffic noise models, an observation which echoes findings from an earlier study which revealed that railway noise annoyance was more strongly related to railway noise exposure than road traffic noise annoyance is to road traffic noise exposure [42]

Summary

Introduction

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated the burden of disease from environmental noise to be largely determined by noise-induced sleep disturbance, with more than 900,000 disability-adjusted life years (DALY) lost each year in western Europe due to noise at night, with road traffic being responsible for the largest fraction of this burden [2]. Noise-induced sleep disturbance is suspected to be on the causal pathway to cardiovascular disease as non-habituating autonomic reactions to noise events may be important precursors of long-term cardiovascular outcomes [4,5,6]. Sleep disturbances as a short-term outcome in the context of laboratory or observational small-scale field studies are often objectified as electroencephalographic (EEG) arousals or EEG awakening reactions. Self-reporting of noise-induced sleep disturbance is the measurement method of choice in large field surveys that assess the longer-term effect of noise in the context of people’s habitual environment. Despite the proliferation of original laboratory studies involving objective measures of noise effects on sleep in the last two decades, did measures of self-reported sleep disturbance inform the recommendations regarding nighttime noise exposure in the recently published WHO Environmental Noise Guidelines [1]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion