Airport noise and blood pressure

People living near airports experience both chronic and acute blood-pressure increases in response to aircraft sounds, even during sleep said Dr. K K Aggarwal President Heart Care Foundation of India and head cardiology Moolchand Medicity.

A new analysis from the Hypertension and Exposure to Noise Near Airports (HYENA) study, published in the European Heart Journal, suggests that blood pressure spikes not only in response to aircraft sounds, but also traffic or indoor sounds like snoring of the same intensity.

For the study,140 volunteers living near the airports of Athens (Greece), Malpensa (Italy), Arlanda (Sweden), and Heathrow (UK) wore blood-pressure monitors that checked their blood pressure at 15-minute intervals throughout the night. Noise levels were recorded by specialized devices, with a noise event defined as LAmax>35 dB.

In the study systolic blood pressure increased by a mean of 6.2 mm Hg and diastolic by a mean of 7.4 mm Hg within 15 minutes of an "aircraft event," but that other sources of noise, including traffic sounds and indoor noise--mostly snoring--also produced blood-pressure spikes.

The noise levels were lower than that tend to actually wake people from sleep. The noises were affecting blood pressure at a subconscious level.