Few studies to date have characterized the influence of aviation-related noise on health outcomes relevant to benefit-cost analyses, such as mortality or health care utilization, and very little work has been done in the US. To our knowledge, no major US study has estimated the association between long-term exposure to noise and cardiovascular outcomes while accounting for the potential confounding from air pollution and socioeconomic determinants of health. In Project 44, we employ national data on Medicare enrollees and noise contours surrounding each of 95 airports to evaluate the linkage between aviation-related noise and hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease. We construct a variety of exposure metrics for noise and link these metrics with zip code-level data on air pollution exposures, population demographics, socioeconomic factors, and other individual-level and zip code-level covariates. We construct Bayesian hierarchical models to estimate health risks associated with noise in the vicinity of each airport, capturing health impacts in aggregate and by location. We use these models to consider the health effects of noise exposure on hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease in total and for multiple specific endpoints, and we examine evidence for differential effects by key co-morbidities and various effect modifiers. We also explore interactions between air pollution and airport-related noise for cardiovascular effects.
- The first national-scale investigation of health impacts of airport noise in the US
- Conclusions regarding airports where health impacts appear more significant and where future investigations may be warranted
Boston University School of Public Health
Harvard School of Public Health
Jonathan I. Levy, Boston University School of Public Health, jonlevy@bu.edu
Francesca Dominici, Harvard School of Public Health, fdominic@hsph.harvard.edu
Natalia.Sizov@faa.gov natalia.sizov@faa.gov
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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