title: Noise Annoyance Is Associated with Depression and Anxiety in the General Population- The Contribution of Aircraft Noise.
abstract: While noise annoyance has become recognized as an important environmental stressor, its association to mental health has hardly been studied. We therefore determined the association of noise annoyance to anxiety and depression and explored the contribution of diverse environmental sources to overall noise annoyance.
  
  
  
  We investigated cross-sectional data of n = 15.010 participants of the Gutenberg Health Study (GHS), a population-based, prospective, single-center cohort study in Mid-Germany (age 35 to 74 years). Noise annoyance was assessed separately for road traffic, aircraft, railways, industrial, neighborhood indoor and outdoor noise ("during the day"; "in your sleep") on 5-point scales ("not at all" to "extremely"); depression and anxiety were assessed by the PHQ-9, resp. GAD-2.
  
  
  
  Depression and anxiety increased with the degree of overall noise annoyance. Compared to no annoyance, prevalence ratios for depression, respectively anxiety increased from moderate (PR depression 1.20; 95%CI 1.00 to 1.45; PR anxiety 1.42; 95% CI 1.15 to 1.74) to extreme annoyance (PR depression 1.97; 95%CI 1.62 to 2.39; PR anxiety 2.14; 95% CI 1.71 to 2.67). Compared to other sources, aircraft noise annoyance was prominent affecting almost 60% of the population.
  
  
  
  Strong noise annoyance was associated with a two-fold higher prevalence of depression and anxiety in the general population. While we could not relate annoyance due to aircraft noise directly to depression and anxiety, we established that it was the major source of annoyance in the sample, exceeding the other sources in those strongly annoyed. Prospective follow-up data will address the issue of causal relationships between annoyance and mental health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Manfred E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Beutel
authors.affiliation: Medical Clinic for Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Claus
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jünger
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Eva M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.affiliation: Preventive Cardiology and Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine 2, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.|Center for Thrombosis and Hemostasis, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.|German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), partner site Rhine Main, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wild
authors.affiliation: Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Germany, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lackner
authors.affiliation: Institute for Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics (IMBEI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Blettner
authors.affiliation: Institute for Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics (IMBEI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Binder
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Michal
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wiltink
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Elmar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Brähler
authors.affiliation: Medical Clinic for Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Münzel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000401:Aircraft; D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology*; D004777:Environment; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009624:Noise, Transportation; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D011890:Railroads; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012890:Sleep; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires