Long-term exposure to air pollution and stroke incidence:A Danish Nurse cohort study

Ambient air pollution has been linked to stroke, but few studies have examined in detail stroke subtypes and confounding by road traffic noise, which was recently associated with stroke. Here we examined the association between long-term exposure to air pollution and incidence of stroke (overall, ischemic, hemorrhagic), adjusting for road traffic noise. In a nationwide Danish Nurse Cohort consisting of 23,423 nurses, recruited in 1993 or 1999, we identified 1,078 incident cases of stroke (944 ischemic and 134 hemorrhagic) up to December 31, 2014, defined as first-ever hospital contact. The full residential address histories since 1970 were obtained for each participant and the annual means of air pollutants (particulate matter with diameter < 2.5 μm and < 10 μm (PM2.5 and PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx)) and road traffic noise were determined using validated models. Time-varying Cox regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) (95% confidence intervals (CI)) for the associations of one-, three, and 23-year running mean of air pollutants with stroke adjusting for potential confounders and noise. In fully adjusted models, the HRs (95% CI) per interquartile range increase in one-year running mean of PM2.5 and overall, ischemic, and hemorrhagic stroke were 1.12 (1.01–1.25), 1.13 (1.01–1.26), and 1.07 (0.80–1.44), respectively, and remained unchanged after adjustment for noise. Long-term exposure to ambient PM2.5 was associated with the risk of stroke independent of road traffic noise

Dynamiske støjkort: Udvidet resumé

Der er udviklet en online webtjeneste, som ud fra kontinuerte støjmålinger langs en vejstrækning kombine-ret med beregninger kan vise et dynamisk kort med vejstøjens udbredelse i naboområdet. Der kan ligeledes vises kort over de afledte effekter af støjen, herunder gener og forskellige former for helbredsrisici. Kortene over gene og helbredsrisici genereres ved at koble støjberegningsresultaterne med den nyeste forskning indenfor støjens helbredseffekter.I denne artikel præsenteres metoden, og der vises eksempel på brugerflade og mulige brugssituationer. Brugere af dette system kan være medarbejdere i kommunernes miljø- og planafdelinger, beslutningsta-gere og borgere.Arbejdet med at udvikle dynamiske støjkort er foretaget i samarbejde med SoundEAR

Long-term exposure to road traffic noise and incidence of breast cancer: a cohort study

Abstract Background Exposure to road traffic noise was associated with increased risk of estrogen receptor (ER)-negative (ER-) breast cancer in a previous cohort study, but not with overall or ER-positive (ER+) breast cancer, or breast cancer prognosis. We examined the association between long-term exposure to road traffic noise and incidence of breast cancer, overall and by ER and progesterone receptor (PR) status. Methods We used the data from a nationwide Danish Nurse Cohort on 22,466 female nurses (age > 44 years) who at recruitment in 1993 or 1999 reported information on breast cancer risk factors. We obtained data on the incidence of breast cancer from the Danish Cancer Registry, and on breast cancer subtypes by ER and PR status from the Danish Breast Cancer Cooperative Group, up to 31 December 2012. Road traffic noise levels at the nurses’ residences were estimated by the Nord2000 method between 1970 and 2013 as annual means of a weighted 24 h average (Lden) at the most exposed facade. We used time-varying Cox regression to analyze the associations between the 24-year, 10-year, and 1-year mean of Lden and breast cancer, separately for total breast cancer and by ER and PR status. Results Of the 22,466 women, 1193 developed breast cancer in total during 353,775 person-years of follow up, of whom 611 had complete information on ER and PR status. For each 10 dB increase in 24-year mean noise levels at their residence, we found a statistically significant 10% (hazard ratio and 95% confidence interval 1.10; 1.00–1.20) increase in total breast cancer incidence and a 17% (1.17; 1.02–1.33) increase in analyses based on 611 breast cancer cases with complete ER and PR information. We found positive, statistically significant association between noise levels and ER+ (1.23; 1.06–1.43, N = 494) but not ER- (0.93; 0.70–1.25, N = 117) breast cancers, and a stronger association between noise levels and PR+ (1.21; 1.02–1.42, N = 393) than between noise levels and PR- (1.10; 0.89–1.37, N = 218) breast cancers. Association between noise and ER+ breast cancer was statistically significantly stronger in nurses working night shifts (3.36; 1.48–7.63) than in those not working at night (1.21; 1.02–1.43) (p value for interaction = 0.05). Conclusion Long-term exposure to road traffic noise may increase risk of ER+ breast cancer

Road traffic noise and markers of adiposity in the Danish Nurse Cohort: A cross-sectional study

Background Studies have suggested that traffic noise is associated with markers of obesity. We investigated the association of exposure to road traffic noise with body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference in the Danish Nurse Cohort. Methods We used data on 15,501 female nurses (aged >44 years) from the nationwide Danish Nurse Cohort who, in 1999, reported information on self-measured height, weight, and waist circumference, together with information on socioeconomic status, lifestyle, work and health. Road traffic noise at the most exposed façade of the residence was estimated using Nord2000 as the annual mean of a weighted 24-h average (Lden). We used multiple linear regression models to examine associations of road traffic noise levels in 1999 (1-year mean) with BMI and waist circumference, adjusting for potential confounders, and evaluated effect modification by degree of urbanization, air pollution levels, night shift work, job strain, sedative use, sleep aid use, and family history of obesity. Results We did not observe associations between road traffic noise (per 10 dB increase in the 1-year mean Lden) and BMI (kg/m2) (β: 0.00; 95% confidence interval (CI): −0.07, 0.07) or waist circumference (cm) (β: −0.09; 95% CI: −0.31, 0.31) in the fully adjusted model. We found significant effect modification of job strain and degree of urbanization on the associations between Lden and both BMI and waist circumference. Job strained nurses were associated with a 0.41 BMI-point increase, (95% CI: 0.06, 0.76) and a 1.00 cm increase in waist circumference (95% CI: 0.00, 2.00). Nurses living in urban areas had a statistically significant positive association of Lden with BMI (β: 0.26; 95% CI: 0.11, 0.42), whilst no association was found for nurses living in suburban and rural areas. Conclusion Our results suggest that road traffic noise exposure in nurses with particular susceptibilities, such as those with job strain, or living in urban areas, may lead to increased BMI, a marker of adiposity.</p

Long-Term Exposure to Air Pollution and Incidence of Myocardial Infarction:A Danish Nurse Cohort Study

Background: Air pollution exposure has been linked to coronary heart disease, although evidence on PM2.5 and myocardial infarction (MI) incidence is mixed. Objectives: This prospective cohort study aimed to investigate associations between long-term exposure to air pollution and MI incidence, adjusting for road traffic noise. Methods: We used data from the nationwide Danish Nurse Cohort on 22,882 female nurses (˃44 years of age) who, at recruitment in 1993 or 1999, reported information on cardiovascular disease risk factors. Data on MI incidence was collected from the Danish National Patient Register until the end of 2014. Annual mean concentrations of particulate matter (PM) with a diameter ˂2.5 μg/m3 (PM2.5), PM10, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and nitrogen oxides (NOx) at the nurses’ residences since 1990 (PM10 and PM2.5) or 1970 (NO2 and NOx) were estimated using the Danish Eulerian Hemispheric Model/Urban Background Model/AirGIS (DEHM/UBM/AirGIS) dispersion model. We used time-varying Cox regression models to examine the association between 1- and 3-y running means of these pollutants, as well as 23-y running means of NO2 and NOx, with both overall and fatal incident MI. Associations were explored in three progressively adjusted models: Model 1, adjusted for age and baseline year; Model 2, with further adjustment for potential confounding by lifestyle and cardiovascular disease risk factors; and Model 3, with further adjustment for road traffic noise, modeled as the annual mean of a weighted 24-h average (Lden). Results: Of the 22,882 women, 641 developed MI during a mean follow-up of 18.6 y, 121 (18.9%) of which were fatal. Reported hazard ratios (HRs) were based on interquartile range increases of 5.3, 5.5, 8.1, and 11.5 μg/m3 for PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and NOx, respectively. In Model 1, we observed a positive association between a 3-y running mean of PM2.5 and an overall incident MI with an HR=1.20 (95% CI: 1.07, 1.35), which attenuated to HR=1.06 (95% CI: 0.92, 1.23) in Model 2. In Model 1 for incident fatal MI, we observed a strong association with a 3-y running mean of PM2.5, with an HR=1.69 (95% CI: 1.33, 2.13), which attenuated to HR=1.35 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.81) in Model 2. Similar associations were seen for PM10, with 3-y, Model 2 estimates for overall and fatal incident MI of HR=1.06 (95% CI: 0.91, 1.23) and HR=1.35 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.81), respectively. No evidence of an association was observed for NO2 or NOx. For all pollutants, associations in Model 2 were robust to further adjustment for road traffic noise in Model 3 and were similar for a 1-y running mean exposure. Conclusions: We found no association between long-term exposure to PM2.5, PM10, NO2, or NOx and overall MI incidence, but we observed positive associations for PM2.5 and PM10 with fatal MI. We present novel findings that the association between PM and MI incidence is robust to adjustment for road traffic noise.</p