Department of Occupational Safety and Health, College of Public Health, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC.
Sci Total Environ. 2011 Feb 15;409(6):1053-7. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2010.11.039. Epub 2010 Dec 22.
Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that road traffic noise exposure is associated with hypertension in European, but the associations related to traffic sources and in other population are unclear. This study investigated the association between road traffic noise exposure and the prevalence of diagnosed hypertension among 321 male and 499 female resided near main roads in Taichung, Taiwan. Road traffic noise levels and traffic flow rates were measured simultaneously during 0900-1700 on weekdays in 2008. Multivariate logistic regressions were applied to estimate odds ratios (ORs) for hypertension by adjusting for potential confounders. Road traffic noise levels were significantly associated with traffic flow rates of motorcycles, light-duty gasoline vehicles, light-duty diesel trucks and heavy-duty diesel trucks and had the highest correlation with motorcycles. Per one unit (vehicle per hour) increase in the log-transformed traffic flow rate of motorcycles was significantly related to the increment of 7.20±1.40 A-weighted decibels (dBA) in the traffic noise exposure. The high-exposure group (82.2±1.7dBA, n=358) had the significantly higher prevalence of hypertension (adjusted OR=2.15, 95% CI=1.08-4.26) than the low-exposure group (77.2±1.6dBA, n=462). There was an increasing trend (p=0.023) between the prevalence of hypertension and residents exposed to <77dBA, 77-80dBA, 80-83dBA and ≥83dBA, respectively. Such an association was pronounced after adjusting for the total traffic flow rate. The study findings suggest that road traffic noise exposure may be associated with hypertension and the dominant source of traffic noise is motorcycles in central Taiwan.
流行病学研究表明，道路交通噪声暴露与欧洲的高血压有关，但与交通源及其他人群相关的关联尚不清楚。本研究调查了台湾台中市主干道附近 321 名男性和 499 名女性居民中道路交通噪声暴露与已确诊高血压患病率之间的关系。2008 年工作日 0900-1700 期间同时测量道路交通噪声水平和交通流量。多变量逻辑回归用于估计高血压的优势比（OR），通过调整潜在混杂因素进行调整。道路交通噪声水平与摩托车、轻型汽油车、轻型柴油卡车和重型柴油卡车的交通流量显著相关，与摩托车的相关性最高。每增加一个单位（每小时车辆数）的摩托车对数化交通流量与交通噪声暴露增加 7.20±1.40 个 A 加权分贝（dBA）显著相关。高暴露组（82.2±1.7dBA，n=358）的高血压患病率显著高于低暴露组（77.2±1.6dBA，n=462）（调整后的 OR=2.15，95%CI=1.08-4.26）。与暴露于<77dBA、77-80dBA、80-83dBA 和≥83dBA 的居民相比，高血压患病率呈递增趋势（p=0.023）。调整总交通流量后，这种关联更为明显。研究结果表明，道路交通噪声暴露可能与高血压有关，而交通噪声的主要来源是台湾中部的摩托车。
