Residential exposure to aircraft noise and hospital admissions for cardiovascular diseases: multi-airport retrospective study

Objective: To investigate whether exposure to aircraft noise increases the risk of hospitalization for cardiovascular diseases in older people (≥65 years) residing near airports. Design: Multi-airport retrospective study of approximately 6 million older people residing near airports in the United States. We superimposed contours of aircraft noise levels (in decibels, dB) for 89 airports for 2009 provided by the US Federal Aviation Administration on census block resolution population data to construct two exposure metrics applicable to zip code resolution health insurance data: population weighted noise within each zip code, and 90th centile of noise among populated census blocks within each zip code. Setting: 2218 zip codes surrounding 89 airports in the contiguous states. Participants: 6 027 363 people eligible to participate in the national medical insurance (Medicare) program (aged ≥65 years) residing near airports in 2009. Main outcome measures Percentage increase in the hospitalization admission rate for cardiovascular disease associated with a 10 dB increase in aircraft noise, for each airport and on average across airports adjusted by individual level characteristics (age, sex, race), zip code level socioeconomic status and demographics, zip code level air pollution (fine particulate matter and ozone), and roadway density. Results: Averaged across all airports and using the 90th centile noise exposure metric, a zip code with 10 dB higher noise exposure had a 3.5% higher (95% confidence interval 0.2% to 7.0%) cardiovascular hospital admission rate, after controlling for covariates. Conclusions: Despite limitations related to potential misclassification of exposure, we found a statistically significant association between exposure to aircraft noise and risk of hospitalization for cardiovascular diseases among older people living near airports

Stress as a Potential Modifier of the Impact of Lead Levels on Blood Pressure: The Normative Aging Study

Background: Lead exposure and psychological stress have been independently associated with hypertension in various populations, and animal studies suggest that when they co-occur, their effects may be exacerbated. Objectives: We examined whether psychological stress modifies the impact of cumulative lead exposure (measured as bone lead levels) on hypertension and blood pressure in Boston-area community–exposed men participating in the Normative Aging Study. Methods: We evaluated the modifying effect of stress on lead exposure on baseline hypertension status (513 participants) and on blood pressure in those without hypertension (237 participants), cross-sectionally. In baseline nonhypertensives, we examined the same risk factors in relation to prospective risk of developing hypertension. Results: Cross-sectional analysis revealed a positive interaction between stress and tibia lead on systolic blood pressure, after adjusting for age, body mass index, family history of high blood pressure, education, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and nutritional factors. In prospective multivariate analyses, high stress also modified the effect of tibia lead and patella lead on the risk of developing hypertension. Those reporting high stress had 2.66 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.43–4.95] times the risk of developing hypertension per standard deviation increase in tibia lead and had 2.64 (95% CI, 1.42–4.92) times the risk per standard deviation increase in patella lead. Conclusion: To our knowledge, these are the first analyses to look at interactive effects of stress and lead on hypertension in humans. These results suggest that the effect of lead on hypertension is most pronounced among highly stressed individuals, independent of demographic and behavioral risk factors

Interaction of Stress, Lead Burden, and Age on Cognition in Older Men: The VA Normative Aging Study

BACKGROUND. Low-level exposure to lead and to chronic stress may independently influence cognition. However, the modifying potential of psychosocial stress on the neurotoxicity of lead and their combined relationship to aging-associated decline have not been fully examined. OBJECTIVES. We examined the cross-sectional interaction between stress and lead exposure on Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores among 811 participants in the Normative Aging Study, a cohort of older U.S. men. METHODS. We used two self-reported measures of stress appraisal-a self-report of stress related to their most severe problem and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Indices of lead exposure were blood lead and bone (tibia and patella) lead. RESULTS. Participants with higher self-reported stress had lower MMSE scores, which were adjusted for age, education, computer experience, English as a first language, smoking, and alcohol intake. In multivariable-adjusted tests for interaction, those with higher PSS scores had a 0.57-point lower (95% confidence interval, -0.90 to 0.24) MMSE score for a 2-fold increase in blood lead than did those with lower PSS scores. In addition, the combination of high PSS scores and high blood lead categories on one or both was associated with a 0.05-0.08 reduction on the MMSE for each year of age compared with those with low PSS score and blood lead level (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS. Psychological stress had an independent inverse association with cognition and also modified the relationship between lead exposure and cognitive performance among older men. Furthermore, high stress and lead together modified the association between age and cognition.National Institutes of Health (R01ES07821, R01HL080674, R01HL080674-02S1, R01ES013744, ES05257-06A1, P20MD000501, P42ES05947, ES03918-02); National Center for Research Resources General Clinical Research Center (M01RR02635); Leaves of Grass Foundation; United States Department of Veterans Affair

Lead Concentrations in Relation to Multiple Biomarkers of Cardiovascular Disease: The Normative Aging Study

Background: Lead exposure has been associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) in animal and human studies. However, the mechanisms of action have not been fully elucidated. We therefore examined the relationship between lead and multiple biomarkers of CVD

Stress as a Potential Modifier of the Impact of Lead Levels on Blood Pressure: The Normative Aging Study

BACKGROUND. Lead exposure and psychological stress have been independently associated with hypertension in various populations, and animal studies suggest that when they co-occur, their effects may be exacerbated. OBJECTIVES. We examined whether psychological stress modifies the impact of cumulative lead exposure (measured as bone lead levels) on hypertension and blood pressure in Boston-area community-exposed men participating in the Normative Aging Study. METHODS. We evaluated the modifying effect of stress on lead exposure on baseline hypertension status (513 participants) and on blood pressure in those without hypertension (237 participants), cross-sectionally. In baseline nonhypertensives, we examined the same risk factors in relation to prospective risk of developing hypertension. RESULTS. Cross-sectional analysis revealed a positive interaction between stress and tibia lead on systolic blood pressure, after adjusting for age, body mass index, family history of high blood pressure, education, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and nutritional factors. In prospective multivariate analyses, high stress also modified the effect of tibia lead and patella lead on the risk of developing hypertension. Those reporting high stress had 2.66 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.43-4.95] times the risk of developing hypertension per standard deviation increase in tibia lead and had 2.64 (95% CI, 1.42-4.92) times the risk per standard deviation increase in patella lead. CONCLUSION. To our knowledge, these are the first analyses to look at interactive effects of stress and lead on hypertension in humans. These results suggest that the effect of lead on hypertension is most pronounced among highly stressed individuals, independent of demographic and behavioral risk factors.National Institutes of Health (R01-ES05257, P20-MD000501, P42-ES05947, GCRC M01-RR02635, ES03918-02); United States Department of Veterans Affair

Sociodemographic Patterns of Exposure to Civil Aircraft Noise in the United States

13-C-AJFF-BU-016This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Please cite this article as: Matthew C. Simon, Jaime E. Hart, Jonathan I. Levy, Trang VoPham, Andrew Malwitz, Daniel Nguyen, Matthew Bozigar, L. Adrienne Cupples, Peter James, Francine Laden, and Junenette L. Peters. 2022. Sociodemographic Patterns of Exposure to Civil Aircraft Noise in the United States Environmental Health Perspectives. 130:2 CID: 027009 https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP9307Background: Communities with lower socioeconomic status and higher prevalence of racial/ethnic minority populations are often more exposed to environmental pollutants. Although studies have shown associations between aircraft noise and property values and various health outcomes, little is known about how aircraft noise exposures are sociodemographically patterned. Objective: Our aim was to describe characteristics of populations exposed to aviation noise by race/ethnicity, education, and income in the United States

Long-Term Aircraft Noise Exposure and Risk of Hypertension in Postmenopausal Women [2022]

13-C-AJFE-BU-002This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Please cite this article as: Daniel D. Nguyen, Eric A. Whitsel, Gregory A. Wellenius, Jonathan I. Levy, Jessica H. Leibler, Stephanie T. Grady, James D. Stewart, Matthew P. Fox, Jason M. Collins, Melissa N. Eliot, Andrew Malwitz, JoAnn E. Manson, Junenette L. Peters, Long-term aircraft noise exposure and risk of hypertension in postmenopausal women, Environmental Research, Volume 218, 2023, 115037, ISSN 0013-9351, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2022.115037.Background: Studies of the association between aircraft noise and hypertension are complicated by inadequate control for potential confounders and a lack of longitudinal assessments, and existing evidence is inconclusive. Objectives: We evaluated the association between long-term aircraft noise exposure and risk of hypertension among post-menopausal women in the Women\u2019s Health Initiative Clinical Trials, an ongoing prospective U.S. cohort

Community-wide health risk assessment using geographically resolved demographic data: a synthetic population approach.

BACKGROUND: Evaluating environmental health risks in communities requires models characterizing geographic and demographic patterns of exposure to multiple stressors. These exposure models can be constructed from multivariable regression analyses using individual-level predictors (microdata), but these microdata are not typically available with sufficient geographic resolution for community risk analyses given privacy concerns. METHODS: We developed synthetic geographically-resolved microdata for a low-income community (New Bedford, Massachusetts) facing multiple environmental stressors. We first applied probabilistic reweighting using simulated annealing to data from the 2006-2010 American Community Survey, combining 9,135 microdata samples from the New Bedford area with census tract-level constraints for individual and household characteristics. We then evaluated the synthetic microdata using goodness-of-fit tests and by examining spatial patterns of microdata fields not used as constraints. As a demonstration, we developed a multivariable regression model predicting smoking behavior as a function of individual-level microdata fields using New Bedford-specific data from the 2006-2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, linking this model with the synthetic microdata to predict demographic and geographic smoking patterns in New Bedford. RESULTS: Our simulation produced microdata representing all 94,944 individuals living in New Bedford in 2006-2010. Variables in the synthetic population matched the constraints well at the census tract level (e.g., ancestry, gender, age, education, household income) and reproduced the census-derived spatial patterns of non-constraint microdata. Smoking in New Bedford was significantly associated with numerous demographic variables found in the microdata, with estimated tract-level smoking rates varying from 20% (95% CI: 17%, 22%) to 37% (95% CI: 30%, 45%). CONCLUSIONS: We used simulation methods to create geographically-resolved individual-level microdata that can be used in community-wide exposure and risk assessment studies. This approach provides insights regarding community-scale exposure and vulnerability patterns, valuable in settings where policy can be informed by characterization of multi-stressor exposures and health risks at high resolution

(Table 1) Components and accumulation rates of sediments from ODP Leg 165 sites

Records of long-term sediment deposition in the Caribbean Sea were recovered during Ocean Drilling Program Leg 165. Samples from the Cayman Rise (Site 998), the Colombian Basin (Site 999), and the Hess Escarpment (Site 1001) were analyzed for calcium carbonate (CaCO3) by coulometry and for selected major and trace elements by X-ray fluorescence and inductively coupled plasma-emission spectrometry. These data were used to quantify in the bulk sediment the absolute concentrations of CaCO3, terrigenous matter, and dispersed ash (as opposed to discrete ash layers). The weight percent of terrigenous matter was computed using a Cr-based normative calculation, and dispersed ash content was calculated by difference; the assumption of a three component system (CaCO3, ash, and terrigenous matter) is justified by and consistent with petrographic analysis. Sites 998 and 999 broadly exhibit the same pattern of terrigenous accumulation. Both show a general decrease in terrigenous accumulation rates during the Oligocene and early Miocene, except for a sharp increase at Site 998 during the early Oligocene (30-40 Ma) and significant increases in the late Miocene and late Pliocene/early Pleistocene. The same pattern in terrigenous accumulation is recorded at Sites 925 and 929 in the Ceara Rise (Atlantic Ocean), which receives input from an Amazon River source, demonstrating that Sites 925, 929, 998, and 999 collectively provide a circum-Andean record of tectonic uplift, with the Leg 165 sites responding to inputs from the Magdelena River system. Both Sites 998 and 999 appear to be responding to South and Central American inputs, particularly after the middle Miocene; however, the variation in the terrigenous, carbonate, and dispersed ash at Site 998 point to an erosional event during the Oligocene that is apparently unique to this site's location. Dispersed ash commonly accounts for 15-20 wt% of the bulk sediment, and in some cases up to 45 wt%. The accumulation of dispersed ash typically leads the accumulation of discrete layers by 2-10 m.y. These changes in sediment composition could signify (1) the distance from the source of volcanism, (2) periods of small volume volcanic activity preceding the large eruptions, or (3) the transportation to the deep sea of terrestrially deposited ash preceding the large eruptions