Blood Pressure of Jordanian Workers Chronically Exposed to Noise in Industrial Plants

Cardiovascular Risk Assessment and Prevention in Cardio-Oncology: Beyond Traditional Risk Factors

This review goes beyond traditional approaches in cardio-oncology, highlighting often-neglected factors impacting patient care. Social determinants, environment, health care access, and gut microbiome significantly influence patient outcomes. Powerful tools like multi-omics and wearable technologies offer deeper insights into real-world experiences. The future lies in integrating these advancements with established practices to achieve precision cardio-oncology care. By crafting tailored therapies and continuously updating comprehensive management plans based on real-time data, we can unlock the full potential of personalized care for all patients.

Investigation of Noise Induced Hearing Loss Among Power Loom Industry Workers in Tamil Nadu, India

Noise-induced hearing loss remains a prevalent occupational concern across various industries. This study aimed to address several key objectives regarding noise exposure and hearing impairment among power loom workers in Tamil Nadu, India. The major objectives were to assess the levels of noise exposure in the power loom industry and to determine the prevalence of hearing loss among the workers. The minor objectives included identifying the specific factors associated with hearing loss and proposing measures to mitigate noise exposure. A cross-sectional study was carried out at a Power Loom Industry in the Erode District of Tamil Nadu between September and November 2023. A total of 123 workers from weaving sections were randomly selected to participate in face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire. Noise exposure levels were measured using a noise meter, while hearing loss was assessed using a pure tone audiometer. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify factors associated with hearing loss. Among the workers, 88.5% were exposed to noise levels of ≥ 95 dB (A), and the prevalence of hearing loss was 71.6%. Factors positively associated with hearing loss included age between 31-50 years and over 50 years, lack of literacy, experiencing hearing difficulties or earaches, hypertension, and more than 15 years of service in the power loom industry. To mitigate noise exposure levels, there is a need for enhanced occupational hazard education and stricter enforcement of safety regulations. Regular audiometry tests should be implemented to monitor hearing threshold shifts. Employers should establish and enforce hearing conservation programs in workplaces where noise exposure exceeds or reaches 95 dB (A).

Wearable Sensor-Based Monitoring of Environmental Exposures and the Associated Health Effects: A Review

Recent advances in sensor technology have facilitated the development and use of personalized sensors in monitoring environmental factors and the associated health effects. No studies have reviewed the research advancement in examining population-based health responses to environmental exposure via portable sensors/instruments. This study aims to review studies that use portable sensors to measure environmental factors and health responses while exploring the environmental effects on health. With a thorough literature review using two major English databases (Web of Science and PubMed), 24 eligible studies were included and analyzed out of 16,751 total records. The 24 studies include 5 on physical factors, 19 on chemical factors, and none on biological factors. The results show that particles were the most considered environmental factor among all of the physical, chemical, and biological factors, followed by total volatile organic compounds and carbon monoxide. Heart rate and heart rate variability were the most considered health indicators among all cardiopulmonary outcomes, followed by respiratory function. The studies mostly had a sample size of fewer than 100 participants and a study period of less than a week due to the challenges in accessing low-cost, small, and light wearable sensors. This review guides future sensor-based environmental health studies on project design and sensor selection.

Types, sources, socioeconomic impacts, and control strategies of environmental noise: a review

Noise exposure has reached an alarming degree over the years because of rapid growth in the industry, transportation, and urbanization. Therefore, it is a dire need to provide awareness of the sources and mitigation strategies of noise, and to highlight the health, and socio-economic impacts of noise. A few research studies have documented this emerging issue; however, there is no comprehensive document describing all types of noise, their impacts on living organisms, and control strategies. This review article summarizes the sources of noise; their effects on industrial workers, citizens, and animals; and the value of property in noisy areas. The plethora of literature is showing an increased level of noise in various cities of the world, which have various health consequences such as high blood pressure, insomnia, nausea, heart attack, exhaustion, dizziness, headache, and triggered hearing loss. Apart from humans, noise also affects animal habitat, preying, and reproduction ability; increases heart rate and hearing loss to even death and loss in property value; and impairs the hospital environment. Finally, we have discussed the possible strategies to mitigate the noise problem, policy statements, and regulations to be followed, with future research directions based on the identified research gaps.

Impact of Noise Exposure on Risk of Developing Stress-Related Health Effects Related to the Cardiovascular System: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background

: Exposure to acute noise can cause an increase in biological stress reactions, which provides biological plausibility for a potential association between sustained noise exposure and stress-related health effects. However, the certainty in the evidence for an association between exposures to noise on short- and long-term biomarkers of stress has not been widely explored. The objective of this review was to evaluate the strength of evidence between noise exposure and changes in the biological parameters known to contribute to the development of stress-related adverse cardiovascular responses.

Materials and Methods

This systematic review comprises English language comparative studies available in PubMed, Cochrane Central, EMBASE, and CINAHL databases from January 1, 1980 to December 29, 2021. Where possible, random-effects meta-analyses were used to examine the effect of noise exposure from various sources on stress-related cardiovascular biomarkers. The risk of bias of individual studies was assessed using the risk of bias of nonrandomized studies of exposures instrument. The certainty of the body of evidence for each outcome was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation approach.

Results

: The search identified 133 primary studies reporting on blood pressure, hypertension, heart rate, cardiac arrhythmia, vascular resistance, and cardiac output. Meta-analyses of blood pressure, hypertension, and heart rate suggested there may be signals of increased risk in response to a higher noise threshold or incrementally higher levels of noise. Across all outcomes, the certainty of the evidence was very low due to concerns with the risk of bias, inconsistency across exposure sources, populations, and studies and imprecision in the estimates of effects.

Conclusions

: This review identifies that exposure to higher levels of noise may increase the risk of some short- and long-term cardiovascular events; however, the certainty of the evidence was very low. This likely represents the inability to compare across the totality of the evidence for each outcome, underscoring the value of continued research in this area. Findings from this review may be used to inform policies of noise reduction or mitigation interventions.

The relationship between community noise and arterial hypertension in the population of the city of Niš

Aim: The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between noise exposure and the incidence of arterial hypertension as well as the relationship of noise annoyance and noise sensitivity with hypertension. Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was performed on 911 adult residents of Niš, Serbia, of whom 388 were men (42.6%) and 523 women (57.4%). The criterium for the diagnosis of arterial hypertension was that it was diagnosed by a physician. Based on measurement results of noise, residents, streets were marked as noisy [daily equivalent noise level (Leq) ≥ 55 dB (A) and night Leq ≥ 45 dB (A)] and as quiet [daily equivalent noise level (Leq) ≤ 55 dB (A) and night Leq ≤ 45 dB (A)]. The numerical and verbal noise annoyance scales were used to assess the degree of noise annoyance, while noise sensitivity was measured with the Weinstein's Noise Sensitivity Scale. Results: Arterial hypertension was statistically significantly more frequent in residents in the noisy area compared to residents in the quiet area. After the inclusion of independent variable factors in the logistic regression models, no significant diference was found (p = 0.66, OR = 1.11; 95% CI: 0.69-1.78). A correlation analysis between noise annoyance wich was measured by verbal and numeric scales and arterial hypertension showed a highly significant positive relation. The same case was between the relationship between subjective sensitivity and arterial hipertension. Conclusion: The introduction of the limit for the community noise level that corresponds to the requirements of highly sensitive persons is a significant measure in preventing the harmful effects of noise on the exposed population.

Investigating the effects of occupational and environmental noise on cardiovascular diseases: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The present study aimed to use a meta-analysis to investigate the relationship between occupational and non-occupational noise exposure expressed in various studies with cardiovascular disease. This is a systematic review and meta-analysis study based on PRISMA checklist. In this study, the researchers searched five international databases of Medline/PubMed, Embase, Scopus, ISI/web of knowledge, and Google Scholar. Search keywords included two categories noise and noise pollution, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension. The Joanna Briggs Institute checklist was used to review and control the quality of the articles. After all screening stage 139 articles entered the final analysis. The results show that except for East African environmental studies and workplace studies in East Asia, Western Asia, and Northern Europe, there was a significant association between noise exposure and cardiovascular disease. Also, there was a significant difference between the intensity of sound and blood pressure in workers (OR = 1.28, CI 95%: 1.15-1.42, P < 0.001). Based on the results of environmental noise, there was a significant difference between ambient noise intensity and blood pressure (OR = 1.55, CI 95%: 1.53-1.57, P < 0.001). It can be concluded that it is very important to study and identify jobs or living environments with less than the recommended noise level and in addition to hearing aids that occur in over-standard exposures, such as cardiovascular disease.

Occupational noise exposure and the prevalence of dyslipidemia in a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Occupational noise exposure was related to cardiovascular disease, of which dyslipidemia was an important inducement. This study investigated the relationship between occupational noise exposure and dyslipidemia.

METHODS

Four hundred ninety-two occupational noise-exposed workers and 664 non-exposed workers were recruited to conduct environmental noise tests and personal occupational physical examinations. A lasso-logistic regression model was used to estimate the relative risk of dyslipidemia. A restricted cubic spline was used to estimate the association between noise exposure years and dyslipidemia after adjusting for potential confounding factors.

RESULTS

A crude association was observed between the occupational noise exposure (75-85 dB(A)) and dyslipidemia. After adjusting for confounding factors, there was a non-linear relationship between noise exposure years and dyslipidemia (P for non-linearity =0.01). Workers exposed to 75-85 dB(A) for 11 to 24.5 years had a higher risk of dyslipidemia than non-exposed workers.

CONCLUSIONS

A positive and non-linear exposure-response relationship was found in workers exposed to 75-85 dB(A) whose exposure years were between 11 and 24.5. Workers had the highest risk of dyslipidemia when exposed for 13.5 years.

Impact of exposure to noise on the risk of hypertension: A systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to synthesize available cohorts about the relationship between various types of noise and hypertension, and to explore the potential dose-response relationship between them in an updated meta-analysis.

METHODS

PubMed and Embase were searched through October 2019 to identify cohort studies that met predetermined inclusion criteria. A random-effects model was used to combine the results of included studies. Dose-response meta-analysis was conducted to examine the potential dose-response relationship.

RESULTS

Eleven cohort studies involving 224,829 participants were included in this systematic review. Pooled result showed that living or working in environment with noise exposure was significantly associated with increased risk of hypertension (RR: 1.18; 95% CI: 1.06 to 1.32), with low heterogeneity (P = 0.098, I² = 42.1%). We found no evidence of a nonlinear association of elevated noise with hypertension risk (P = 0.443). The summary risk ratio of hypertension for an increment of per 10 dB(A) of noise was 1.13 (95% CI: 0.99 to 1.28), with moderate heterogeneity (P = 0.003, I² = 72.1%).

CONCLUSIONS

Integrated evidence from cohort studies supports the hypothesis that exposure to noise may be a risk factor of hypertension.

Association of occupational noise exposure, bilateral hearing loss with hypertension among Chinese workers

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the relationship of occupational noise, bilateral hearing loss with blood pressure and hypertension among a Chinese population.

METHODS

We included 15 422 individuals from a cross-sectional survey of the key occupational diseases in 2017 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Occupational noise exposure was evaluated through workplace noise level and/or the job titles. Hearing loss was defined as a pure-tone average of 25 dB or higher at speech frequency (0.5, 1, 2 kHz) or high frequency (3, 4, 6 kHz) in both ears. Hypertension was defined as blood pressure at least 140/90 mmHg or self-reported current use of antihypertensive medication.

RESULTS

Compared with participants without occupational noise exposure, the prevalence of hypertension was significantly higher for noise exposure duration of 5 to less than 10 years [odds ratio (OR) = 1.13, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.04-1.27] and at least 10 years (OR = 1.17, 95% CI = 1.09-1.30). In the sex-specific analysis, the association was significantly pronounced in male (OR = 1.18, 95% CI = 1.06-1.32 for duration of 5 to <10 years; OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.12-1.38 for duration ≥10 years), but not in female (OR = 1.01, 95% CI = 0.80-1.11 for duration of 5 to <10 years; OR = 1.06, 95% CI = 0.90-1.20 for duration ≥10 years). In the subsample analyses, bilateral hearing loss was associated with a higher prevalence of hypertension, no matter for speech frequency hearing loss (OR = 1.12, 95% CI = 1.02-1.30 for mild; OR = 1.35, 95% CI = 1.20-1.50 for severe) or for high-frequency hearing loss (OR = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.03-1.50 for mild; OR = 2.40, 95% CI = 1.80-3.17 for severe). The sex-subgroup analysis of hearing loss with hypertension was similar as occupational noise and hypertension.

CONCLUSION

Our study has suggested occupational noise exposure is a potential risk factor for hypertension.

The Effects of Green and Urban Walking in Different Time Frames on Physio-Psychological Responses of Middle-Aged and Older People in Chengdu, China

Nighttime walking is becoming a popular exercise for many middle-aged and older people in Asian countries. However, the health benefits of nighttime walking in urban areas and green spaces are still unclear. This study evaluated the physiological and psychological responses of 48 middle-aged and older people who walked 1.6 km through a green space and an urban area during daytime and nighttime. The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), Profile of Mood States (POMS), Perceived Restorativeness Scale (PRS), and Restorative Outcome Scale (ROS) were employed to measure the psychological responses, and pulse rate and blood pressure (SBP, DBP and MAP) were measured to evaluate the physiological responses. The results showed that the daytime green walking induced psychological improvements and lowered blood pressure (p < 0.05), while the daytime urban walking resulted in slight deterioration of all the measured parameters (p > 0.05). On the other hand, the nighttime green walking induced lowered blood pressure (p < 0.05), whilst the nighttime urban walking resulted in psychological improvements and lowered blood pressure (p < 0.05), and no significant difference was found in any measured parameter between the two nighttime walking groups. In conclusion, urban areas are noisy and irritating in the daytime, and not suitable for walking, but may become pleasurable and attractive at night. The psychological benefits of green walking may decrease at night, and nighttime walking in either an urban area or a green space may achieve similar health benefits. Therefore, we recommend that urban citizens start nighttime walking in a green space or an urban area to keep fit when the air is less polluted.

Bilateral high-frequency hearing loss is associated with elevated blood pressure and increased hypertension risk in occupational noise exposed workers

Objective

To investigate the association of bilateral high-frequency hearing loss (BHFHL) with blood pressure and hypertension among occupational noise exposed workers.

Methods

Occupational noise exposed workers were enrolled in 2017 from the occupational diseases survey of Chengdu. BHFHL was classified as normal, mild, or high by the bilateral high-frequency tone average. Linear regression model was used to assess the effects of occupational noise exposure time and BHFHL on blood pressure. Logistic regression model was performed to estimate hypertension risk odds ratios (ORs) associated to occupational noise exposure time and BHFHL.

Results

Increasing years of occupational noise exposure and BHFHL were significantly associated with systolic and diastolic blood pressure increase (all P<0.001). The lineal trend was only significant in males, with adjusted ORs for hypertension gradually increasing with increasing years of occupational noise exposure (P<0.001). Furthermore, subjects having mild and high BHFHL had a higher hypertension risk of 34% and 281%, respectively (both P<0.001). Dose-response relationship between BHFHL and hypertension was found in both males and females.

Conclusions

Occupational noise exposure was positively associated with blood pressure levels and hypertension risk.

[Impact of occupational noise in the development of arterial hypertension: A survey carried out in a company of electricity production]

BACKGROUND

Noise pollution is one of the major environmental pollutants that can adversely affect public health. Cardiovascular diseases are the primary out-auditory adverse outcome caused by occupational noise exposure.

AIMS

To investigate the association between occupational exposure to high level of noise and blood pressure among a group of workers in a company of electricity production in the Centre of Tunisia.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A total of 120 occupational noise-exposed workers and 120 non-exposed employees were recruited to conduct a cross-sectional survey exploring the association between occupational noise-exposed and arterial hypertension. Data collection was based on a questionnaire, a clinical exam and biomarkers. Blood pressure was measured using a mercury sphygmomanometer following a standard protocol. The occupational noise level was measured with a portable calibrated sound meter. Multiple logistic regression was used to calculate the odds ratio (OR) and 95 % confidence interval (CI) of noise exposure adjusted by potential confounders.

RESULTS

The noise level to which our population was exposed ranged from 75dB to 103dB with an average noise level of 89dB. Mean systolic blood pressure (SBP), mean diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and the prevalence of hypertension were significantly higher in exposed individuals than in non-exposed. In multivariate analysis, elevated SBP in exposed workers was associated with high-salt diet (OR adjusted=1.71, 95% CI adjusted [1.14-1.98]) and occupational seniority more than 8 years (adjusted OR=5.31, 95% CI [2.22-12.72]). The factors associated with high BP in the exposed group were diabetes (OR adjusted to 15.31; 95% adjusted CI [2.61-89.58]), history of hypertension in the family (OR adjusted to 11.46; 95% adjusted CI [5.18-83][1.58-83.05]), mean of age (OR adjusted to 6.65; 95% adjusted CI [1.87-23.59]) and high-salt diet (OR adjusted to 0.29; 95% adjusted CI [0.09-0.95]).

CONCLUSION

Occupational chronic noise exposure was associated with higher levels of SBP, DBP, and the risk of hypertension. These findings indicate that effective and feasible measures should be implemented to reduce the risk of hypertension caused by occupational noise exposure in companies of electricity production.