Air pollutants and other stressors as confounding oraggravating factors in noise induced health effects

摘要

Physical and chemical agents in the environment have been studied by different scientific groups where each has considered the health effect as being solely due to the pollutant under investigation, for example air pollution without due regard for the simultaneous presence of noisepollution whereas both have an impact on the cardiovascular system. Or in the case of noise studies without consideration of solvent, asphyxiant or metal exposure which have an impact on hearing. It is therefore to be questioned how stringent is the available evidence of epidemiological studies in both fields to warrant the consideration of air pollutants as confounding or aggravating factors in studies of specific effects due to noise (and vice versa). In this paper we weigh the existing evidence on the association of noise and air pollutant exposure and associated health impacts.