October 8, 2013

aircraft noise and cardiovascular disease

Living in a noisy environment has previously been linked to increased blood pressure.  A new study,  published in the BMJ, investigates whether there is a link between living in an area with high levels of aircraft noise from Heathrow and hospital admissions and deaths from stroke and heart disease.

The study authors came to the SMC to address questions like:

• Might loud noise be bad for our health?
• Do daytime noise and nighttime noise have different effects?
• Could this study tell us anything about health effects of other types of noise?

Speakers:

Prof Paul Elliott, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health Medicine, Imperial College London, and Director of the UK Small Area Health Statistics Unit and MRC-PHE Centre for Environment and Health, and senior author of the study

Dr Anna Hansell, Clinical Senior Lecturer, Imperial College London, and Assistant Director of the Small Area Health Statistics Unit (SAHSU) at the MRC-HPA Centre for Environment and Health, Honorary Consultant at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, and lead author of the study