Long-Term Exposure to Wind Turbine Noise and Risk for Myocardial Infarction and Stroke:A Nationwide Cohort Study

Background: Noise from wind turbines (WTs) is reported as more annoying than traffic noise at similar levels, raising concerns as to whether WT noise (WTN) increases risk for cardiovascular disease, as observed for traffic noise. Objectives: We aimed to investigate whether long-term exposure to WTN increases risk of myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke. Methods: We identified all Danish dwellings within a radius 20 times the height of the closest WT and 25% of the dwellings within 20–40 times the height of the closest WT. Using data on WT type and simulated hourly wind at each WT, we estimated hourly outdoor and low frequency (LF) indoor WTN for each dwelling and derived 1-y and 5-y running nighttime averages. We used hospital and mortality registries to identify all incident cases of MI (n=19,145) and stroke (n=18,064) among all adults age 25–85 y (n=717,453), who lived in one of these dwellings for ≥one year over the period 1982–2013. We used Poisson regression to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRRs) adjusted for individual- and area-level covariates. Results: IRRs for MI in association with 5-y nighttime outdoor WTN ˃42 (vs. ˂24) dB(A) and indoor LF WTN ˃15 (vs. ˂5) dB(A) were 1.21 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.91, 1.62; 47 exposed cases] and 1.29 (95% CI: 0.73, 2.28; 12 exposed cases), respectively. IRRs for intermediate categories of outdoor WTN [24–30, 30–36, and 36–42 dB(A) vs. ˂24 dB(A)] were slightly above the null and of similar size: 1.08 (95% CI: 1.04, 1.12), 1.07 (95% CI: 1.00, 1.12), and 1.06 (95% CI: 0.93, 1.22), respectively. For stroke, IRRs for the second and third outdoor exposure groups were similar to those for MI, but near or below the null for higher exposures. Conclusions: We did not find convincing evidence of associations between WTN and MI or stroke.</p

Impact of Long-Term Exposure to Wind Turbine Noise on Redemption of Sleep Medication and Antidepressants: A Nationwide Cohort Study

Background: Noise from wind turbines (WTs) is associated with annoyance and, potentially, sleep disturbances. Objectives: Our objective was to investigate whether long-term WT noise (WTN) exposure is associated with the redemption of prescriptions for sleep medication and antidepressants. Methods: For all Danish dwellings within a radius of 20-WT heights and for 25% of randomly selected dwellings within a radius of 20-to 40-WT heights, we estimated nighttime outdoor and low-frequency (LF) indoor WTN, using information on WT type and simulated hourly wind. During follow-up from 1996 to 2013, 68,696 adults redeemed sleep medication and 82,373 redeemed antidepressants, from eligible populations of 583,968 and 584,891, respectively. We used Poisson regression with adjustment for individual and area-level covariates. Results: Five-year mean outdoor nighttime WTN of ≥42 dB was associated with a hazard ratio (HR) = 1.14 [95% confidence interval (CI]: 0.98, 1.33) for sleep medication and HR = 1.17 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.35) for antidepressants (compared with exposure to WTN of ˂24 dB). We found no overall association with indoor nighttime LF WTN. In age-stratified analyses, the association with outdoor nighttime WTN was strongest among persons ≥65y of age, with HRs (95% CIs) for the highest exposure group (≥42 dB) of 1.68 (1.27, 2.21) for sleep medication and 1.23 (0.90, 1.69) for antidepressants. For indoor nighttime LF WTN, the HRs (95% CIs) among persons ≥65y of age exposed to ≥15 dB were 1.37 (0.81, 2.31) for sleep medication and 1.34 (0.80, 2.22) for antidepressants. Conclusions: We observed high levels of outdoor WTN to be associated with redemption of sleep medication and antidepressants among the elderly, suggesting that WTN may potentially be associated with sleep and mental health.</p

Cancer in first-degree relatives and risk of testicular cancer in Denmark

Familial aggregation of testicular cancer has been reported consistently, but it is less clear if there is any association between risk of testicular cancer and other cancers in the family. We conducted a population based case-control study to examine the relationship between risk of testicular cancer and 22 different cancers in first-degree relatives. We included 3297 cases of testicular cancer notified to the Danish Cancer Registry between 1991 and 2003. 6594 matched controls were selected from the Danish Civil Registration System, which also provided the identity of 40,104 first-degree relatives of case and controls. Familial cancer was identified by linkage to the Danish Cancer Registry, and we used conditional logistic regression to analyse whether cancer among first-degree relatives was associated with higher risk of testicular cancer. Rate ratio (RR) for testicular cancer was 4.63 (95% CI: 2.41–8.87) when a father, 8.30(95% CI: 3.81–18.10) when a brother and 5.23 (95% CI: 1.35–20.26) when a son had testicular cancer compared with no familial testicular cancer. Results were similar when analyses were stratified by histologic subtypes of testicular cancer. Familial Non-Hodgkin lymphoma and oesophageal cancer were associated with testicular cancer; however these may be chance findings. The familial aggregation of testicular and possibly other cancers may be explained by shared genes and/or shared environmental factors, but the mutual importance of each of these is difficult to determine

Long-term exposure to low-level arsenic in drinking water and diabetes incidence:a prospective study of the diet, cancer and health cohort

Background: Established causes of diabetes do not fully explain the present epidemic. High-level arsenic exposure has been implicated in diabetes risk, but the effect of low-level arsenic exposure in drinking water remains unclear. Objective: We sought to determine whether long-term exposure to low-level arsenic in drinking water in Denmark is associated with an increased risk of diabetes using a large prospective cohort. Methods: During 1993–1997, we recruited 57,053 persons. We followed each cohort member for diabetes occurrence from enrollment until 31 December 2006. We traced and geocoded residential addresses of the cohort members and used a geographic information system to link addresses with water-supply areas. We estimated individual exposure to arsenic using all addresses from 1 January 1971 until the censoring date. Cox proportional hazards models were used to model the association between arsenic exposure and diabetes incidence, separately for two definitions of diabetes: all cases and a more strict definition in which cases of diabetes based solely on blood glucose results were excluded. Results: Over a mean follow-up period of 9.7 years for 52,931 eligible participants, there were a total of 4,304 (8.1%) diabetes cases, and 3,035 (5.8%) cases of diabetes based on the more strict definition. The adjusted incidence rate ratios (IRRs) per 1-μg/L increment in arsenic levels in drinking water were as follows: IRR = 1.03 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.06) and IRR = 1.02 (95% CI: 0.99, 1.05) for all and strict diabetes cases, respectively. Conclusions: Long-term exposure to low-level arsenic in drinking water may contribute to the development of diabetes. Citation: Bräuner EV, Nordsborg RB, Andersen ZJ, Tjønneland A, Loft S, Raaschou-Nielsen O. 2014. Long-term exposure to low-level arsenic in drinking water and diabetes incidence: a prospective study of the Diet, Cancer and Health cohort. Environ Health Perspect 122:1059–1065; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.140819

Map of space-only clusters of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in Denmark.

<p>One area showing statistically significant clustering of non-Hodgkin lymphoma cases (area no. 8), and two areas showing borderline clustering (area no. 9 and 10), based on spatial scan statistics of SaTScan and a maximum cluster size of 10% of the total population, using year when clusters were suggested by Q-statistics. None of these cluster regions were consistently found with both control groups.</p