Environmental noise and cardiovascular disease - observations on a well known dose-response relationship

摘要

There is increasing evidence that environmental noise exposure has a range of impacts on human health and well-being. Following a literature review and meta-analysis, a dose-response relationship between transportation noise and cardiovascular risk was established in 2006 by Babisch where daytime road traffic noise L_(day) = 60 dB(A) was the lowest level at which effects were observed. This curve is used in risk estimation. However previous studies have noted that noise related dose-response curves have several limitations. The aim of this present study is to highlight uncertainties in deriving dose-response relationships between environmental noise and cardiovascular disease. A review of recent epidemiological studies was conducted, which showed that information about low and high noise doses was lacking. Typically, studies categorised exposure and did not construct dose-response curves. Thus based on the current evidence, substantial uncertainties exist with respect to the lower limits at which environmental noise might exert impacts on health. Various issues about accuracy of noise exposures estimation at lower levels, study design, study quality and statistics used are further discussed.