Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Dec;60(12):1031-1038.
doi: 10.1002/ajim.22775. Epub 2017 Sep 22.

Occupational noise exposure and risk of hypertension in an industrial workforce

Baylah Tessier-Sherman  1 , Deron Galusha  1 , Linda F Cantley  1 , Mark R Cullen  2 , Peter M Rabinowitz  3 , Richard L Neitzel  4
Affiliations

Occupational noise exposure and risk of hypertension in an industrial workforce

Baylah Tessier-Sherman et al. Am J Ind Med. 2017 Dec.

Abstract

Background: Community noise exposure has been shown to increase the risk of hypertension; however, the relationship between occupational noise exposure and hypertension is less clear.

Methods: Using an inception cohort of workers in a specialty metals manufacturing company, we retrospectively assessed occupational noise exposure, hearing acuity, and incident hypertension diagnoses using administrative datasets. Time-weighted average noise exposure levels were assigned to employees based on their job histories. Cox proportional hazards models were performed to determine the association of noise exposure with risk of incident hypertension.

Results: The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of incident hypertension did not significantly differ between groups by cumulative continuous or categorized noise exposure metric.

Conclusion: We found no increased risk of incident hypertension with exposure to occupational noise among workers. Further assessment examining workers' use of hearing protection devices is warranted.

Keywords: hypertension; noise exposure; occupational health and safety; occupational noise; workplace health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Average noise levels by plant with 95% CI
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Babisch W, van Kamp I. Exposure-Response Relationship of the Association between Aircraft Noise and the Risk of Hypertension. Noise Health. 2009;11(44):161–168. - PubMed
    1. Babisch W. Cardiovascular Effects of Noise. Noise Health. 2011;13(52):201–204. - PubMed
    1. Babisch W. Updated Exposure-Response Relationship between Road Traffic Noise and Coronary Heart Diseases: A Meta-Analysis. Noise Health. 2014;16(68):1–9. - PubMed
    1. Basner M, Babisch W, Davis A, Brink M, Clark C, Janssen S, et al. Auditory and Non-Auditory Effects of Noise on Health. Lancet. 2014;383(9925):1325–1332. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cantley LF, Tessier-Sherman B, Slade MD, Galusha D, Cullen MR. Expert Ratings of Job Demand and Job Control as Predictors of Injury and Musculoskeletal Disorder Risk in a Manufacturing Cohort. Occup Environ Med. 2016;73:229–236. - PMC - PubMed