WHO Blames Traffic Noise For Thousands Of European Heart Attacks Each Year
If there’s one factor that most dims enthusiasm for cars, it’s probably traffic. The frustration, misanthropy and waste engendered by traffic are such that it would come as no surprise to learn that traffic-related stress causes a number of health problems. But, according to a study by the World Health Organization [ PDF here], you don’t even need to be stuck in traffic to be negatively affected by it. According to a WHO press release,
Traffic-related noise accounts for over 1 million healthy years of life lost annually to ill health, disability or early death in the western countries in the WHO European Region. This is the main conclusion of the first report assessing the burden of disease from environmental noise in Europe, released today by WHO/Europe. Noise causes or contributes to not only annoyance and sleep disturbance but also heart attacks, learning disabilities and tinnitus.
Traffic: the not-so-silent killer?
The report’s release continues:
Among environmental factors in Europe, environmental noise leads to a disease burden that is second in magnitude only to that from air pollution. One in three people experiences annoyance during the daytime and one in five has disturbed sleep at night because of noise from roads, railways and airports. This increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases and high blood pressure.
Details? Using disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), or “the sum of the potential years of life lost due to premature death and the equivalent years of healthy life lost by virtue of being in states of poor health or disability,” the report notes
It is estimated that DALYs lost from environmental noise in the western European countries are 61 000 years for ischaemic heart disease, 45 000 years for cognitive impairment of children, 903 000 years for sleep disturbance, 22 000 years for tinnitus and 587 000 years for annoyance. If all of these are considered together, the range of burden would be 1.0–1.6 million DALYs. This means that at least 1 million healthy life years are lost every year from traffic-related noise in the western European countries, including the EU Member States. Sleep disturbance and annoyance related to road traffic noise constitute most of the burden of environmental noise in western Europe. Owing to a lack of exposure data in south-east Europe and the newly independent states, it was not possible to estimate the disease burden in the whole of the WHO European Region.
The report itself extrapolates the impact of traffic noise through some complex epidemiological calculations that are well beyond my own ability to evaluate. But, the report does admit that
the exposure–response relationships may be based on extrapolation from a small number of studies with few subjects and perhaps even a measure of noise exposure that is not available on a population basis. This means that the estimates usually suffer from a considerable degree of uncertainty. This uncertainty is very difficult to quantify, although it is sometimes possible to provide low and high limits using sensitivity analyses
Regardless, the study will likely be the basis for future EU regulation of traffic noise.
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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So if I start wearing earplugs, I no longer have to watch my cholesterol? Sweet.
Here's a brief look into how our future may look if the enviro-nazis, socialists and other nannies are allowed to dictate how we live--- in the form of the front page of a typical New York Times-like newspaper, circa 2035: BROOKLYN MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH In a unanimous ruling by jury, 47-year-old James MacDonald was found guilty of first-degree tree murder for cutting down a healthy tree in his back yard. The conviction carries an automatic sentence of death by chainsaw which, due to previous sweeping ammendments to the constitution after pressure from environmental lobbyists in the 2020s, can only be overturned by a judge in good standing with the David Suzuki Memorial Foundation (DSMF). But this is not likely to happen because MacDonald has a prior felony conviction for failing to surrender his gasoline-powered car to authories when such vehicles were outlawed in July, 2023, a crime for which he served seven years in prison. Prosecuting attourney Percy Nopenis was elated with the verdict. "This is a very good day for American environmental justice. It sends a message that we defend those who cannot speak for themselves, and it sends a message to would-be perps who have no regard for plant life or the health of our environment. Mr. MacDonald clearly sees himself as being above the law and besides, he's fat. That has also been illegal for several years now. Yet Mr. MacDonald is still twenty pounds overweight and continues to eat more than his fair share." MacDonald's lawyer Diane Bluetestes was defiant. "My client has been convicted unfairly and of course, we will seek clemency from the DSMF. This trial was rigged from the start. He was outed by a prosecution witness as a conservative. Had he been a liberal it is likely that he would have only been found guilty of involuntary tree slaughter and served no more than 15 years. Besides, he planted that tree himself just after inheriting that property in 2015. He only cut it down after a windstorm partially uprooted it and tilted it in the direction of his neighbor's home." Of course I'm exaggerating. It is my sincerest hope that I'm wrong. But judging by the ultra-flaky lobbying of certain special-interest groups over the last four decades I'm very afraid that I may be at least 10% correct with this forecast...