International Journal of Epidemiology 2001;30:839-845
© International Epidemiological Association 2001
Mental Health |
A follow-up study of effects of chronic aircraft noise exposure on child stress responses and cognition
a Department of Psychiatry, St Bartholomew's and The Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary and Westfield College, London, UK.
b Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London and the Royal Free Medical School, London, UK.
c Department of Psychology, University of Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Sydney, Australia.
d Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institute, and Department of Psychology, University of Stockholm, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden.
Dr Mary Haines, Department of Psychiatry, St Bartholomew's and The Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary and Westfield College, Basic Medical Sciences Building, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK. E-mail: M.M.Haines{at}qmw.ac.uk
Abstract
Background Children are a high-risk group vulnerable to the effects of chronic aircraft noise exposure. This study examines the effects of aircraft noise exposure on children's health and cognition around London Heathrow airport and tests sustained attention as an underlying mechanism of effects of noise on reading and examines the way children adapt to continued exposure to aircraft noise.
Methods In this repeated measures epidemiological field study, the cognitive performance and health of 275 children aged 8–11 years attending four schools in high aircraft noise areas (16-h outdoor Leq >66 dBA) was compared with children attending four matched control schools exposed to lower levels of aircraft noise (16-h outdoor Leq <57 dBA). The children first examined at baseline were examined again after a period of one year at follow-up. Health questionnaires and cognitive tests were group administered to the children in the schools.
Results and Conclusions At follow-up chronic aircraft noise exposure was associated with higher levels of annoyance and perceived stress, poorer reading comprehension and sustained attention, measured by standardized scales after adjustment for age, social deprivation and main language spoken. These results do not support the sustained attention hypothesis previously used to account for the effects of noise on cognition in children. The reading and annoyance effects do not habituate over a one-year period and do not provide strong evidence of adaptation.
Keywords Chronic aircraft noise exposure, children, cognition and stress responses, adaptation, repeated measures epidemiological field study
Accepted 11 October 2000
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  C. Clark, R. Martin, E. van Kempen, T. Alfred, J. Head, H. W. Davies, M. M. Haines, I. L. Barrio, M. Matheson, and S. A. Stansfeld Exposure-Effect Relations between Aircraft and Road Traffic Noise Exposure at School and Reading Comprehension: The RANCH Project Am. J. Epidemiol., January 1, 2006; 163(1): 27 - 37. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 P. Lercher, G. W. Evans, and M. Meis Ambient Noise and Cognitive Processes among Primary Schoolchildren Environment and Behavior, November 1, 2003; 35(6): 725 - 735. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M Haines and S Stansfeld Ambient neighbourhood noise and children's mental health Occup. Environ. Med., February 1, 2003; 60(2): 146 - 146. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M M Haines, S A Stansfeld, J Head, and R F S Job Multilevel modelling of aircraft noise on performance tests in schools around Heathrow Airport London J Epidemiol Community Health, February 1, 2002; 56(2): 139 - 144. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|