title: Acute effects of night-time noise exposure on blood pressure in populations living near airports.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Within the framework of the HYENA (hypertension and exposure to noise near airports) project we investigated the effect of short-term changes of transportation or indoor noise levels on blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) during night-time sleep in 140 subjects living near four major European airports.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Non-invasive ambulatory BP measurements at 15 min intervals were performed. Noise was measured during the night sleeping period and recorded digitally for the identification of the source of a noise event. Exposure variables included equivalent noise level over 1 and 15 min and presence/absence of event (with LAmax > 35 dB) before each BP measurement. Random effects models for repeated measurements were applied. An increase in BP (6.2 mmHg (0.63-12) for systolic and 7.4 mmHg (3.1, 12) for diastolic) was observed over 15 min intervals in which an aircraft event occurred. A non-significant increase in HR was also observed (by 5.4 b.p.m.). Less consistent effects were observed on HR. When the actual maximum noise level of an event was assessed there were no systematic differences in the effects according to the noise source.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Effects of noise exposure on elevated subsequent BP measurements were clearly shown. The effect size of the noise level appears to be independent of the noise source.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 75, Mikras Asias Street, Athens 11527, Greece.
authors.forename: Alexandros S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Haralabidis
authors.forename: Konstantina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dimakopoulou
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vigna-Taglianti
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Giampaolo
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Borgini
authors.forename: Marie-Louise
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Dudley
authors.forename: Göran
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pershagen
authors.forename: Gösta
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bluhm
authors.forename: Danny
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Houthuijs
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Babisch
authors.forename: Manolis
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Velonakis
authors.forename: Klea
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Katsouyanni
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jarup
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000401:Aircraft; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000379:methods; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009624:Noise, Transportation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*