Glucocorticoid metabolites in newborns: A marker for traffic noise related stress?

Retrospective Study on the Value of Intensive Care Unit Noise Reduction Management in Elderly Patients with Chronic Renal Failure in the Uremic Phase

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to investigate the value of noise reduction management in the intensive care unit (ICU) in elderly patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) in the uremic phase.

METHODS

A retrospective study was conducted, including 150 elderly patients with CRF in the uremic phase, who were treated in the ICU ward at the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University between January 2021 and August 2023. Among them, 73 were in the control group (routine ICU management), and 77 were in the observation group (routine ICU management + ICU noise reduction management). Anxiety, depression, sleep treatment, quality of life, blood pressure, heart rate (HR), and cortisol (COR) levels were compared between the two groups at baseline and 10 days after admission to the ICU.

RESULTS

There was no statistical significance in the comparison of baseline data between the two groups of patients (P > 0.05). At 10 days, the sleep quality of patients in the observation group was higher than that in the control group (P < 0.05). Anxiety levels, as well as blood pressure, HR, and COR levels, were significantly lower (P < 0.05), whereas the quality of life was higher in the observation group than in the control group (P< 0.05).

CONCLUSION

ICU noise reduction management can effectively improve the sleep quality and quality of life of elderly patients with CRF in the uremic phase.

Understanding park visitors' soundscape perception using subjective and objective measurement

Environmental noise knows no boundaries, affecting even protected areas. Noise pollution, originating from both external and internal sources, imposes costs on these areas. It is associated with adverse health effects, while natural sounds contribute to cognitive and emotional improvements as ecosystem services. When it comes to parks, individual visitors hold unique perceptions of soundscapes, which can be shaped by various factors such as their motivations for visiting, personal norms, attitudes towards specific sounds, and expectations. In this study, we utilized linear models and geospatial data to evaluate how visitors' personal norms and attitudes, the park's acoustic environment, visitor counts, and the acoustic environment of visitors' neighborhoods influenced their perception of soundscapes at Muir Woods National Monument. Our findings indicate that visitors' subjective experiences had a greater impact on their perception of the park's soundscape compared to purely acoustic factors like sound level of the park itself. Specifically, we found that motivations to hear natural sounds, interference caused by noise, sensitivity to noise, and the sound levels of visitors' home neighborhoods influenced visitors' perception of the park's soundscape. Understanding how personal factors shape visitors' soundscape perception can assist urban and non-urban park planners in effectively managing visitor experiences and expectations.

Obesity-related cardiometabolic indicators modify the associations of personal noise exposure with heart rate variability: A further investigation on the Study among Obese and Normal-weight Adults (SONA)

Elucidating the associations between environmental noise and heart rate variability (HRV) would be beneficial for the prevention and control of detrimental cardiovascular changes. Obese people have been found to manifest heightened susceptibility to the adverse effects of noise on HRV. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Based on 53 normal-weight and 44 obese young adults aged 18-26 years in Beijing, China, this study aimed to investigate the role of obesity-related cardiometabolic indicators for associations between short-term environmental noise exposure and HRV in the real-world context. The participants underwent personal noise exposure and ambulatory electrocardiogram monitoring using portable devices at 5-min intervals for 24 continuous hours. Obesity-related blood pressure, glucose and lipid metabolism, and inflammatory indicators were subsequently examined. Generalized mixed-effect models were used to estimate the associations between noise exposure and HRV parameters. The C-peptide, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and leptin levels were higher in obese participants compared to normal-weight participants. We observed amplified associations between short-term noise exposure and decreases in HRV among participants with higher C-peptide, HOMA-IR, and leptin levels. For instance, a 1 dB(A) increment in 3 h-average noise exposure level preceding each measurement was associated with changes of -0.20% (95%CI: -0.45%, 0.04%) and -1.35% (95%CI: -1.85%, -0.86%) in standard deviation of all normal to normal intervals (SDNN) among participants with lower and higher C-peptide levels, respectively (P for interaction <0.05). Meanwhile, co-existing fine particulate matter (PM2.5) could amplify the associations between noise and HRV among obese participants and participants with higher C-peptide, HOMA-IR, and leptin levels. The more apparent associations of short-term exposure to environmental noise with HRV and the effect modification by PM2.5 may be partially explained by the higher C-peptide, HOMA-IR, and leptin levels of obese people.

Traffic safety and public health in China - Past knowledge, current status, and future directions

Transportation-related harms have developed into a social disease, threatening public safety and health in China. We aimed to increase the global understanding of traffic safety and public health in China from past knowledge, current status, and future directions by collecting, collating, and analyzing the Chinese traffic incidents reported in the published literature. A systematic search of China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Weipu, and published articles referenced in PubMed, Web of Science and ProQuest between January 1, 1988 and April 30, 2023 was performed. China encountered the first recorded traffic accident as early as three thousand years ago in the Shang Dynasty. An increase in vehicle capacity and velocity increased the traffic risks during the transition from rickshaws and livestock to motor vehicles in varying traffic environments. Humans are not only the decisive factor of a large number of vehicles, traffic routes, and environmental variables, but also the victims at the end and starting point of traffic accidents. Injuries (mechanical force, burns) and diseases (traffic-related air pollution, noise) caused by traffic activities not only threaten public health, but also cause risks to safe driving. Analysis of traffic activities and biomarkers promotes the treatment of traffic injuries in ethology and medicine. China prepared for the construction of healthy transportation in the "decade of road safety" toward an estimation of worldwide road traffic injuries in 2030. Improvement of traffic safety concerning public health under the "Outline of the National Comprehensive Three-dimensional Transportation Network Planning" in China will propel the realization of worldwide traffic environmental advancement.

Noise Indicators Relating to Non-Auditory Health Effects in Children-A Systematic Literature Review

A systematic literature review was conducted to investigate which objective noise indicators related to various noise sources (i.e., aircraft, road-traffic, and ambient noise) are the best predictors of non-auditory health-effects in children. These relationships are discussed via a conceptual framework, taking into account main parameters such as the type of noise source, the exposure locations and their environments, the type of noise indicators, the children's mediating factors, and the type of non-auditory health effects. In terms of the procedure, four literature databases were screened and data was extracted on study design, types of noise sources, assessment method, health-based outcomes and confounders, as well as their associations. The quality of the studies was also assessed. The inclusion criteria focused on both indoor and outdoor environments in educational buildings and dwellings, considering that children spend most of their time there. From the 3337 uniquely collected articles, 36 articles were included in this review based on the defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. From the included literature, it was seen that noise exposure, assessed by energetic indicators, has significant associations with non-auditory health effects: psychophysiological, cognitive development, mental health and sleep effects. Percentile and event-based indicators provided significant associations to cognitive performance tasks and well-being dimension aspects.

Impact of Noise Exposure on Risk of Developing Stress-Related Metabolic Effects: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background

Exposure to noise can increase biological stress reactions, which may increase adverse health effects, including metabolic disorders; however, the certainty in the association between exposure to noise and metabolic outcomes has not been widely explored. The objective of this review is to evaluate the evidence between noise exposures and metabolic effects.

Materials and Methods

A systematic review of English and comparative studies available in PubMed, Cochrane Central, EMBASE, and CINAHL databases between January 1, 1980 and December 29, 2021 was performed. Risk of Bias of Nonrandomized Studies of Exposures was used to assess risk of bias of individual studies and certainty of the body of evidence for each outcome was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach.

Results

Fifty-six primary studies reporting on cortisol, cholesterol levels, waist circumference, glucose levels, and adrenaline and/or noradrenaline were identified. Although meta-analyses suggested that there may be an increase in waist circumference and adrenaline with increased noise exposure, the certainty in the evidence is very low. Overall, the certainty in the evidence of an effect of increased noise on all the outcomes were low to very low due to concerns with risk of bias, inconsistency across exposure sources, populations, and studies, and imprecision in the estimates of effects.

Conclusions

The certainty of the evidence of increased noise on metabolic effects was low to very low, which likely reflects the inability to compare across the totality of the evidence for each outcome. The findings from this review may be used to inform policies involving noise reduction and mitigation strategies, and to direct further research in areas that currently have limited evidence available.

A comprehensive experimental study of the influence of temperature on urban road traffic noise under real-world conditions

The effect of road traffic noise in urban environments is an issue of social and scientific interest, due to its public health and economic impacts. Scientific literature showed a decrease in the level of tyre/road noise generated as temperature increases, but usually under standardised traffic conditions in non-urban environments. Based on a wide network for the hourly monitoring of road traffic flow, air temperature and noise levels across the city of Madrid (Spain), this work proposes and applies a new experimental methodology for studying the dependence of urban road traffic noise on temperature. This study was conducted under real-world traffic conditions involving a wide variability in urban configurations and in the type and state of preservation of vehicles, tires and pavements. From the analysis of data for a whole year, a time interval was identified (from Tuesday to Thursday and between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.) in which the variability in road traffic flow for the whole city of Madrid was stable enough to allow for a linear regression study between temperature and noise levels from urban road traffic. The relationships found were highly significant (p ≤ 0.001) for data from all the noise monitoring stations, with values of higher than 20% and up to 42% for the explanation of the variability in the measured noise levels by temperature at most of the measurement points. The values of the slope coefficients at the noise monitoring stations ranged from -0.036 to -0.125 dB/°C, with an average value of -0.090 ± 0.011 dB/°C. These results are within the range of values reported in the scientific literature for experimental tests conducted under conditions of controlled or free-flowing traffic.

Land use regression modelling of community noise in São Paulo, Brazil

Noise pollution has negative health consequences, which becomes increasingly relevant with rapid urbanization. In low- and middle-income countries research on health effects of noise is hampered by scarce exposure data and noise maps. In this study, we developed land use regression (LUR) models to assess spatial variability of community noise in the Western Region of São Paulo, Brazil.We measured outdoor noise levels continuously at 42 homes once or twice for one week in the summer and the winter season. These measurements were integrated with various geographic information system variables to develop LUR models for predicting average A-weighted (dB(A)) day-evening-night equivalent sound levels (L_den) and night sound levels (L_night). A supervised mixed linear regression analysis was conducted to test potential noise predictors for various buffer sizes and distances between home and noise source. Noise exposure levels in the study area were high with a site average L_den of 69.3 dB(A) ranging from 60.3 to 82.3 dB(A), and a site average L_night of 59.9 dB(A) ranging from 50.7 to 76.6 dB(A). LUR models had a good fit with a R² of 0.56 for L_den and 0.63 for L_night in a leave-one-site-out cross validation. Main predictors of noise were the inverse distance to medium roads, count of educational facilities within a 400 m buffer, mean Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) within a 100 m buffer, residential areas within a 50 m (L_den) or 25 m (L_night) buffer and slum areas within a 400 m buffer. Our study suggests that LUR modelling with geographic predictor data is a promising and efficient approach for noise exposure assessment in low- and middle-income countries, where noise maps are not available.

Maternal exposure to air pollution during pregnancy and cortisol level in cord blood

Exposure to air pollution has been associated with disorders of the endocrine system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis; however, the available evidence on these associations is still scarce. This study aimed to investigate, for the first time, the association of exposure to PM₁, PM_2.5, and PM₁₀, as well as traffic indicators (distance to major roads and total street length in different buffers around maternal residential address) during pregnancy with cortisol level in cord blood samples. This cross-sectional study was carried out based on 150 mother-newborn pairs in Sabzevar, Iran (2018). Land use regression models were applied to estimate air pollution exposure during the entire pregnancy at maternal residential addresses. Multiple linear regression models were applied to estimate the association of exposure to air pollution during pregnancy and cord blood cortisol levels, controlled for relevant covariates. There was a significant positive association between exposure to PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ and cortisol levels in cord blood (β = 2.55, 95% confidence intervals (CI) = 0.57, 4.52, P-value = 0.01, and β = 3.09, 95% CI: 1.28, 4.90, P-value < 0.01, respectively). Moreover, there was a significant positive association between total street length in a 100 m buffer around maternal residence and cortisol level. Each one interquartile range (IQR) increase in distance from home to major roads was associated with a -2.58 (95% CI: -4.85, -0.30, P-value = 0.03) decrease in cord blood cortisol level. The median (IQR) of the cord blood cortisol levels for the first and fourth quartiles of distance to major roads were 50.7 (19.5) and 38.2 (20.4) ng/mL, respectively. The associations for total street length in 300 m and 500 m buffers and PM₁ exposure were not statistically significant. Our findings suggest a direct association of exposure to air pollution during pregnancy and cortisol levels at cord blood.

Environmental noise induces the release of stress hormones and inflammatory signaling molecules leading to oxidative stress and vascular dysfunction-Signatures of the internal exposome

Environmental noise is a well-recognized health risk and part of the external exposome-the World Health Organization estimates that 1 million healthy life years are lost annually in Western Europe alone due to noise-related complications, including increased incidence of hypertension, heart failure, myocardial infarction, and stroke. Previous data suggest that noise works through two paired pathways in a proposed reaction model for noise exposure. As a nonspecific stressor, chronic low-level noise exposure can cause a disruption of sleep and communication leading to annoyance and subsequent sympathetic and endocrine stress responses leading to increased blood pressure, heart rate, stress hormone levels, and in particular more oxidative stress, being responsible for vascular dysfunction and representing changes of the internal exposome. Chronic stress generates cardiovascular risk factors on its own such as increased blood pressure, blood viscosity, blood glucose, and activation of blood coagulation. To this end, persistent chronic noise exposure increases cardiometabolic diseases, including arterial hypertension, coronary artery disease, arrhythmia, heart failure, diabetes mellitus type 2, and stroke. The present review discusses the mechanisms of the nonauditory noise-induced cardiovascular and metabolic consequences, focusing on mental stress signaling pathways, activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis and sympathetic nervous system, the association of these activations with inflammation, and the subsequent onset of oxidative stress and vascular dysfunction. © 2019 BioFactors, 45 (4):495-506, 2019.