Traffic noise may up heart attack risk: Study

Your risk of heart attack may increase with the amount of traffic noise to which you are exposed, according to a new study which found that the threat is greatest with road and rail vehicles sounds and less with aircraft noise.

Andreas Seidler from Dresden University in Germany and colleagues evaluated information from statutory health insurers on over a million Germans over the age of 40.

The addresses of persons living in the Rhine-Main region in Germany were matched precisely to road, rail, and traffic noise exposure measurements for 2005.

When the analysis was restricted to patients who died of heart attack up to 2014-2015, a statistically significant association was found between noise exposure and the risk of heart attack.

Researchers believe the lower risk from aircraft noise can be explained by the fact that, unlike road and rail traffic noise, aircraft noise never remains continuously above 65 Decibels.

They also see indications from their analysis that exposure to traffic noise influences not just the genesis, but the course of a heart attack.

The findings were published in the journal Deutsches Arzteblatt International.