TY - JOUR

T1 - Pregnancy and childhood exposure to residential traffic noise and overweight at 7 years of age

AU - Christensen, Jeppe Schultz

AU - Hjortebjerg, Dorrit

AU - Raaschou-Nielsen, Ole

AU - Ketzel, Matthias

AU - Sorensen, Thorkild I. A.

AU - Sørensen, Mette

PY - 2016/9

Y1 - 2016/9

N2 - Background: Exposure to road traffic noise has been associated with adiposity and diabetes in adults. The suggestedpathways have been through sleep disturbance and stress. Children may be particularly susceptible tonoise induced sleep disturbance and stress and the effects hereof.Objectives: To examine the association between traffic noise exposure during pregnancy and early childhood andadiposity in children.Methods: We identified 40,974 singletons from the Danish National Birth Cohort with parentally given questionnaireinformation on weight and height at 7-years of age. Road and railway traffic noise were modeled at all historicaladdresses and expressed as time-weighted means for two exposure periods (pregnancy and childhood).Adiposity was assessed using BMI z-scores and a dichotomous measure of childhood overweight based on ageand sex specific cut-offs. Associations were analyzed using linear regression for BMI z-scores and logistic regressionfor risk of childhood overweight, adjusting for socioeconomic position, maternal BMI, maternal smoking,maternal age, parity and degree of urbanization.Results: We found both pregnancy and childhood exposure to road traffic noise to be associated with a higher riskfor childhood overweight (odds ratio (OR)= 1.06 per 10 dB, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.00–1.12 for exposureduring pregnancy and OR = 1.06 per 10 dB, 95% CI: 0.99–1.12 for childhood exposure). There were no associationsbetween road traffic noise and BMI z-scores. We found no associations between railway noise and adiposity.Conclusions: We found suggestions of a positive association between road traffic noise and risk of overweight in7-years old children.

AB - Background: Exposure to road traffic noise has been associated with adiposity and diabetes in adults. The suggestedpathways have been through sleep disturbance and stress. Children may be particularly susceptible tonoise induced sleep disturbance and stress and the effects hereof.Objectives: To examine the association between traffic noise exposure during pregnancy and early childhood andadiposity in children.Methods: We identified 40,974 singletons from the Danish National Birth Cohort with parentally given questionnaireinformation on weight and height at 7-years of age. Road and railway traffic noise were modeled at all historicaladdresses and expressed as time-weighted means for two exposure periods (pregnancy and childhood).Adiposity was assessed using BMI z-scores and a dichotomous measure of childhood overweight based on ageand sex specific cut-offs. Associations were analyzed using linear regression for BMI z-scores and logistic regressionfor risk of childhood overweight, adjusting for socioeconomic position, maternal BMI, maternal smoking,maternal age, parity and degree of urbanization.Results: We found both pregnancy and childhood exposure to road traffic noise to be associated with a higher riskfor childhood overweight (odds ratio (OR)= 1.06 per 10 dB, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.00–1.12 for exposureduring pregnancy and OR = 1.06 per 10 dB, 95% CI: 0.99–1.12 for childhood exposure). There were no associationsbetween road traffic noise and BMI z-scores. We found no associations between railway noise and adiposity.Conclusions: We found suggestions of a positive association between road traffic noise and risk of overweight in7-years old children.

KW - Overweight

KW - Adolescence

KW - BMI

KW - Traffic noise

U2 - 10.1016/j.envint.2016.05.016

DO - 10.1016/j.envint.2016.05.016

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 27258658

VL - 94

SP - 170

EP - 176

JO - Environment international

JF - Environment international

SN - 0160-4120

IS - 9

ER -