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. 2024 Oct 1:46:101091.
doi: 10.1016/j.lanepe.2024.101091. eCollection 2024 Nov.

Residential exposure to transportation noise and risk of incident atrial fibrillation: a pooled study of 11 prospective Nordic cohorts

Jesse D Thacher  1   2 , Nina Roswall  2 , Mikael Ögren  3   4 , Andrei Pyko  5   6 , Agneta Åkesson  5 , Anna Oudin  1   7 , Annika Rosengren  8   9 , Aslak H Poulsen  2 , Charlotta Eriksson  5   6 , David Segersson  10 , Debora Rizzuto  11   12 , Emilie Helte  5 , Eva M Andersson  3   4 , Gunn Marit Aasvang  13 , Gunnar Engström  14 , Hrafnhildur Gudjonsdottir  15   16 , Jenny Selander  5 , Jesper H Christensen  17 , Jørgen Brandt  17 , Karin Leander  5 , Kim Overvad  18 , Kristoffer Mattisson  1 , Kristina Eneroth  19 , Lara Stucki  5 , Lars Barregard  3   4 , Leo Stockfelt  3   4 , Maria Albin  1   5 , Mette K Simonsen  20 , Ole Raaschou-Nielsen  2   18 , Pekka Jousilahti  21 , Pekka Tiittanen  22 , Petter L S Ljungman  5   23 , Steen S Jensen  18 , Susanna Gustafsson  24 , Tarja Yli-Tuomi  22 , Thomas Cole-Hunter  25 , Timo Lanki  22   26   27 , Youn-Hee Lim  25 , Zorana J Andersen  25 , Göran Pershagen  5 , Mette Sørensen  2   28
Affiliations

Residential exposure to transportation noise and risk of incident atrial fibrillation: a pooled study of 11 prospective Nordic cohorts

Jesse D Thacher et al. Lancet Reg Health Eur. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Background: Transportation noise has been linked with cardiometabolic outcomes, yet whether it is a risk factor for atrial fibrillation (AF) remains inconclusive. We aimed to assess whether transportation noise was associated with AF in a large, pooled Nordic cohort.

Methods: We pooled data from 11 Nordic cohorts, totaling 161,115 participants. Based on address history from five years before baseline until end of follow-up, road, railway, and aircraft noise was estimated at a residential level. Incident AF was ascertained via linkage to nationwide patient registries. Cox proportional hazards models were utilized to estimate associations between running 5-year time-weighted mean transportation noise (Lden) and AF after adjusting for sociodemographics, lifestyle, and air pollution.

Findings: We identified 18,939 incident AF cases over a median follow-up of 19.6 years. Road traffic noise was associated with AF, with a hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of 1.02 (1.00-1.04) per 10-dB of 5-year mean time-weighted exposure, which changed to 1.03 (1.01-1.06) when implementing a 53-dB cut-off. In effect modification analyses, the association for road traffic noise and AF appeared strongest in women and overweight and obese participants. Compared to exposures ≤40 dB, aircraft noise of 40.1-50 and > 50 dB were associated with HRs of 1.04 (0.93-1.16) and 1.12 (0.98-1.27), respectively. Railway noise was not associated with AF. We found a HR of 1.19 (1.02-1.40) among people exposed to noise from road (≥45 dB), railway (>40 dB), and aircraft (>40 dB) combined.

Interpretation: Road traffic noise, and possibly aircraft noise, may be associated with elevated risk of AF.

Funding: NordForsk.

Keywords: Air pollution; Aircraft noise; Arrhythmia; Atrial fibrillation; Cardiac; Pooled cohort; Railway noise; Road traffic noise.

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Conflict of interest statement

All other authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Exposure-response relationship between 5-year mean exposure to road traffic and railway noise and risk for atrial fibrillation in models adjusted for age, cohort, sex, calendar-year, educational level, marital status, area-income, other noise sources, smoking status, and physical activity. The distribution of road traffic noise is shown for the whole population and for railway noise for the 22.7% of the population exposed.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Interactions between 5-year mean exposure to road traffic noise and demographic factors, lifestyle factors, categories of air pollution and railway noise, population density, previous ischemic heart disease (IHD), and type(s) of register information used to identify cases, in relation to risk of atrial fibrillation. Models adjusted for age, cohort, sex, calendar-year, educational level, marital status, area-income, railway and aircraft noise, smoking status, and physical activity.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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