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A new study by the German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK) shows that people on low incomes who are also exposed to high levels of traffic noise have a significantly increased risk of serious cardiovascular disease. The findings highlight the need to tackle social inequalities and environmental pollution together to improve the health of disadvantaged populations.
The study, conducted in collaboration with Harvard Medical School, analysed data from 507 people in the US. It looked at the relationship between social status, traffic noise and cardiovascular disease. The results are alarming: people with low incomes who were also exposed to high levels of traffic noise had more than a fivefold increased risk of major cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and strokes, compared to people without these stressors.
Traffic noise and social disadvantage - a dangerous combination
The study showed for the first time that the combination of social disadvantage and traffic noise increases stress responses in the brain and promotes inflammatory processes in the arteries. This so-called "neuro-arterial axis" is a central mechanism by which environmental and social stressors work together to impair cardiovascular health.
Environmental justice and health promotion as key demands
"The results clearly show that environmental factors such as noise disproportionately affect disadvantaged populations," explains Omar Hahad, DZHK researcher at the University Medical Centre Mainz and co-author of the study." To reduce social health inequalities, policies to promote environmental justice and address social disadvantage need to be closely linked". The study emphasises that reducing noise exposure and promoting social justice are crucial to improving cardiovascular health in particularly vulnerable populations.Policy and public health initiatives should focus more on this double burden.
The findings have been published in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology. The research was carried out in collaboration with the German Centre for Cardiovascular Research, Harvard Medical School and other international partners.
Dr. Omar Hahad, Department of Cardiology, Cardiology I, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, omar.hahad@unimedizin-mainz.de
Additive effect of high transportation noise exposure and socioeconomic deprivation on stress-associated neural activity, atherosclerotic inflammation, and cardiovascular disease events. Abohashem, S., Aldosoky, W., Hahad, O. et al. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41370-024-00734-2
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