Traffic noise ups heart attack risk

Wailing sirens, honking horns and the relentless flow of traffic outside a home may put a person at a higher risk of heart attacks, Swedish

researchers found.

People who live with a backdrop of 50-decibel road noise, about the equivalent of moderate rainfall, were 40% more likely to have had a heart attack in a survey by scientists at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institute published in Epidemiology. The risk was particularly high for those with noisy bedrooms.

The results match other studies showing the effect of noise on the heart, including research on high blood pressure

, lead scientist Goeran Pershagen, a professor of environmental medicine, said in a release. “Councils should already be taking these results into account when planning new roads,” Pershagen said.

Experts studied 1,571 people who had heart attacks in Stockholm County between 1992 and 1994, comparing them with 2,095 people randomly selected from the population. The higher risk became clear once people with hearing loss or exposure to other sources of noise were factored out, the study said. The link between noise and heart attacks was independent from other risks known to boost the risk of heart attacks.