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Living near an airport may increase your chances of dying from stroke, heart and circulatory disease, according to a study.Those exposed to high levels of aircraft noise are up to a fifth more likely to need hospital treatment for, or die from, such diseases, it found.
Researchers say the noise may trigger a stress hormones response, which raises blood pressure, or disturb people’s sleep. They have called for further research, particularly into night flights.
Health risk: Those exposed to high levels of aircraft noise are up to a fifth more likely to need hospital treatment for, or die from, such diseases, it found
The findings, published in the British Medical Journal, come amid controversy over expansion of Heathrow and other airports to increase UK flight capacity.
Scientists at Imperial College London and King’s College London carried out a study looking at a population of 3.6million living near Heathrow in west London.
They compared data on day and night-time aircraft noise, with hospital admissions and mortality rates.
This showed the risks of life-threatening conditions were around 10 to 20 per cent higher in areas with highest levels of aircraft noise – covering around 70,000 people – compared with areas with least noise.
The researchers looked at noise levels from 2001, provided by the Civil Aviation Authority, and hospital admissions and deaths from 2001-05.
They took into account other factors linked to heart disease, such as social deprivation, ethnic composition, road traffic noise, air pollution and lung cancer rates.
For example, South Asian ethnicity, which is known to carry higher risks of heart disease, accounted for a large part of the association between heart disease admissions and noise levels due to a high population in the area of looked at.
Noisy: The researchers looked at noise levels from 2001, provided by the Civil Aviation Authority, and hospital admissions and deaths from 2001-05
The study covered 12 London boroughs and nine districts outside London where aircraft noise exceeds 50 decibels – about the volume of a normal conversation in a quiet room.
Study leader Dr Anna Hansell, from Imperial, said: ‘The exact role that noise exposure may play in ill health is not well established.
'However, it is plausible that it might be contributing, for example by raising blood pressure or by disturbing people’s sleep.’
Senior author Professor Paul Elliott pointed out that poor diet, smoking, lack of exercise and medical conditions such as raised blood pressure and diabetes all have a bigger impact on heart disease – doubling and tripling the risk.
But he added: ‘Our study raises important questions about the potential role of noise on cardiovascular health.’
However, Kevin McConway, professor of applied statistics at The Open University, said: ‘Within an area, these studies can’t tell us whether it’s the people most affected by aircraft noise who are most likely to get heart disease or have a stroke.
‘So the studies can’t directly tell us whether it is the aircraft noise that is affecting individual people’s chances of these diseases.’
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