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Meta-Analysis
. 2022 Oct-Dec;24(115):215-230.
doi: 10.4103/nah.nah_21_22.

Impact of Noise Exposure on Risk of Developing Stress-Related Metabolic Effects: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Kapeena Sivakumaran  1 , Jennifer A Ritonja  2 , Haya Waseem  1 , Leena AlShenaiber  1 , Elissa Morgan  1 , Salman A Ahmadi  3 , Allison Denning  4 , David Michaud  4 , Rebecca L Morgan  1
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Impact of Noise Exposure on Risk of Developing Stress-Related Metabolic Effects: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Kapeena Sivakumaran et al. Noise Health. 2022 Oct-Dec.

Abstract

Background: Exposure to noise can increase biological stress reactions, which may increase adverse health effects, including metabolic disorders; however, the certainty in the association between exposure to noise and metabolic outcomes has not been widely explored. The objective of this review is to evaluate the evidence between noise exposures and metabolic effects.

Materials and methods: A systematic review of English and comparative studies available in PubMed, Cochrane Central, EMBASE, and CINAHL databases between January 1, 1980 and December 29, 2021 was performed. Risk of Bias of Nonrandomized Studies of Exposures was used to assess risk of bias of individual studies and certainty of the body of evidence for each outcome was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach.

Results: Fifty-six primary studies reporting on cortisol, cholesterol levels, waist circumference, glucose levels, and adrenaline and/or noradrenaline were identified. Although meta-analyses suggested that there may be an increase in waist circumference and adrenaline with increased noise exposure, the certainty in the evidence is very low. Overall, the certainty in the evidence of an effect of increased noise on all the outcomes were low to very low due to concerns with risk of bias, inconsistency across exposure sources, populations, and studies, and imprecision in the estimates of effects.

Conclusions: The certainty of the evidence of increased noise on metabolic effects was low to very low, which likely reflects the inability to compare across the totality of the evidence for each outcome. The findings from this review may be used to inform policies involving noise reduction and mitigation strategies, and to direct further research in areas that currently have limited evidence available.

Keywords: Environmental noise; GRADE; metabolic; sound; stress.

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Conflict of interest statement

None

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA flow diagram. PRISMA, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot of lab-simulated noise and mean difference in cortisol (mg/L) for experimental studies.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Forest plot of occupational noise and mean difference in cholesterol (mg/dL).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Forest plot of road/railway traffic noise and mean difference in waist circumference (cm for cross-sectional studies, and cm per year for cohort studies).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Forest plot of laboratory-simulated noise and mean difference in adrenaline (ng/L) in experimental studies.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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