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Meta-Analysis
. 2019 Oct 27;16(21):4134.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph16214134.

Road Traffic Noise Exposure and Depression/Anxiety: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Angel M Dzhambov  1 , Peter Lercher  2
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Road Traffic Noise Exposure and Depression/Anxiety: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Angel M Dzhambov et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Unlike other World Health Organization evidence reviews, the systematic review on mental disorders could not provide a quantitative estimate of the effect of environmental noise. With that in mind, we aimed to update it with additional studies published through to 18 August 2019 in order to allow for a formal meta-analysis of the association of residential road traffic noise with anxiety and depression. The quality effects and random effects estimators were used for meta-analysis and the robustness of findings was tested in several sensitivity analyses. Ten studies were included in the qualitative synthesis, from which we extracted 15 estimates for depression (n = 1,201,168) and five for anxiety (n = 372,079). Almost all studies were cross-sectional and the risk of bias in them was generally high. We found 4% (95% CI: -3%, 11%) higher odds of depression and 12% (95% CI: -4%, 30%) of anxiety associated with a 10 dB(A) increase in day-evening-night noise level (Lden). Both models suffered from moderate heterogeneity (55% and 54%), but there was evidence of publication bias only in the depression model. These findings were robust with no evidence of study-level moderators. A sensitivity analysis on an alternative set of categorically-reported estimates supported a linear relationship between Lden and depression. Taking into account an overall quality assessment for the included studies, we conclude that there is evidence of "very low" quality that increasing exposure to road traffic noise may be associated with depression and anxiety.

Keywords: environmental noise; mental disorders; mental health; transportation noise.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study selection flow diagram.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot showing the effect of a 10 dB(A) increase in road traffic noise level on depression under the quality effects model (OR: odds ratio, CI: confidence interval, Q and I2: heterogeneity statistics).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Doi plot showing the risk of publication bias in the meta-analysis of the association between road traffic noise and depression (ln OR: log odds ratio, LFK: Luis Furuya-Kanamori index).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Exposure-specific relationship between day-evening-night noise level (Lden) and the odds of depression (based on categorically reported effects in six studies).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Forest plot showing the effect of a 10 dB(A) increase in road traffic noise level on anxiety under the quality effects model (OR: odds ratio, CI: confidence interval, Q and I2: heterogeneity statistics).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Doi plot showing the risk of publication bias in the meta-analysis of the association between road traffic noise and anxiety (ln OR: log odds ratio, LFK: Luis Furuya-Kanamori index).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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