Environmental Noise and Health in the elderly

摘要

The project "Ageing well in Australian cities" addresses knowledge gaps regarding the relationship between residential environment and the health of older residents, at the neighbourhood level. The project extends the Large Analysis and Review of European Housing and Health Status (LARES) project conducted by the World Health Organisation to Australia (Sydney), and to focus on older people (aged 60 and over), and their particular health problems; cardiovascular illness, respiratory illness, falls, and reduced wellbeing. The present paper focuses on the influence of road traffic noise on health outcomes in the context of key residential and personal characteristics. Five localities in the City of Sydney (CoS) council area were selected based on their having a large proportion of elderly residents, and sufficient heterogeneity of residential amenity, housing design/condition and socioeconomic status. Following focus group discussions at the community centres in these areas (N(velence)47), 124 elderly residents were interviewed in their homes using a structured protocol, and housing features were recorded on-site. Data regarding road type and distance to road were used as a proxy for levels of noise exposure. Poisson regression analyses showed relationships of noise and housing features, annoyance and sleep disturbance that are comparable to previous findings in adult populations. There was no direct association of noise and housing features with diagnosis or medication use for hypertension and CVD. Our findings do not indicate that the elderly are more vulnerable to noise in terms of annoyance and sleep disturbance, but health effects were, as previously found in general populations, mediated by length of residency and annoyance due to different noise sources. Results provide further insight into the noise health relationship amongst the elderly, which warrant future attention especially in view of inner city housing and traffic policies.