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
. 2025 Jul 15:277:121541.
doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2025.121541. Epub 2025 Apr 7.

Association of environmental noise exposure with cortisol levels in children from eight European birth cohorts

Ane Arregi  1 , Oliver Robinson  2 , Gunn Marit Aasvang  3 , Sandra Andrusaityte  4 , Audrius Dedele  4 , Jorunn Evandt  3 , Gonzalo Garcia-Baquero  5 , Norun Hjertager Krog  3 , Mònica Guxens  6 , Vincent W V Jaddoe  7 , Marianna Karachaliou  8 , Aitana Lertxundi  9 , Katerina Margetaki  10 , Rosemary McEachan  11 , Mark Nieuwenhuijsen  12 , Claire Philippat  13 , Oscar J Pozo  14 , Remy Slama  13 , Mikel Subiza-Pérez  15 , Elisabeth F C van Rossum  16 , Martine Vrijheid  12 , John Wright  11 , Tiffany C Yang  11 , Oscar Vegas  17 , Nerea Lertxundi  18
Affiliations
Free article

Association of environmental noise exposure with cortisol levels in children from eight European birth cohorts

Ane Arregi et al. Environ Res. .
Free article

Abstract

Environmental noise is a major environmental risk factor for public health. According to the noise reaction model the release of stress hormones like cortisol in response to noise exposure, plays a key role in the development of noise-induced health effects. We aimed to study the association between environmental noise with both acute (UCC) and cumulative (HCC) cortisol levels in children 5-12 years of age. To do so, we analysed data from the HELIX cohort -with spot UCC data- and from the Generation R and INMA cohorts (Gipuzkoa and Sabadell) -with HCC data. The analytical sample involved: 750 HELIX children (mean age = 7.75), 1326 Generation R children (mean age = 6.06), 111 INMA-Sabadell children (mean age = 8.75) and 288 INMA-Gipuzkoa children (mean age = 7.85). Day-evening-night equivalent (Lden) environmental noise exposure during the year of the follow-up was estimated in the addresses of participants, using existing noise maps. Directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) were used to identify appropriate covariates and reduce the chance for biased estimation. We used mixed-effects modelling and linear modelling to examine the association between Lden and cortisol concentration using complete case analyses. None of the models reached the statistical significance. We observed no correlation between HCC and UCC in INMA-Sabadell participants, for whom both urinary and hair cortisol data were available. Future research should prioritize investigating the effects of environmental noise on HCC, as it may serve as a more reliable indicator for assessing associations with chronic exposures. Additionally, future studies on noise-induced health effects in children should incorporate other biomarkers of stress and chronic inflammation to provide a more comprehensive understanding of these associations.

Keywords: ATHLETE project; Children; Environmental noise; Hair cortisol concentration; Urine cortisol concentration.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

LinkOut - more resources