The influence of long term traffic-related noise exposure on cardiovascular mortality

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death globally and transportation noise exposure has been reported to be associated with them. Some relationships between noise and health need to be clarified. There are still uncertainties about the exposure-response relationship for the major transportation noise sources from road traffic, railway and aircraft. In addition, most studies have used averaged noise indicators to define exposure, not taking the variation of noise into account. Further the timing of exposure has not been investigated enough. Finally there is still no agreement about the impact of confounding by air pollution in noise studies.
To fill this gap, the interdisciplinary SiRENE project “Short and Long Term Effects of Transportation Noise Exposure” was launched. The aim of this project was to assess the impact of Road traffic, Railway and Aircraft noise on cardiovascular health, noise annoyance, and sleep of the Swiss population. The SiRENE study combines experimental and epidemiological research in order to evaluate the effects of acute, short and long-term noise exposure on humans.
The principal objective of this PhD thesis was to assess the impact of traffic-related noise on cardiovascular mortality in Switzerland. More specifically, this research work focuses on the effect of the variation of noise, the timing of exposure and the confounding by air pollution. Based on a large amount of data, this study offers a solid ground for future public health policies in the field of noise protection.