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Jenny Selander,¹ Gösta Bluhm,¹ Töres Theorell,² Göran Pershagen,¹ Wolfgang Babisch,³ Ingeburg Seiffert,³ Danny Houthuijs,⁴ Oscar Breugelmans,⁴ Federica Vigna-Taglianti,⁵ Maria Chiara Antoniotti,⁶ Emmanuel Velonakis,⁷ Elli Davou,⁸ Marie-Louise Dudley,⁹ and Lars Järup,⁹ for the HYENA Consortium

¹Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; ²Stress Research Institute, Faculty of Social Sciences, Stockholm University, Sweden; ³Department of Environment and Health at the Federal Environmental Agency, Berlin, Germany; ⁴National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection, Bilthoven, the Netherlands; ⁵Environmental Epidemiologic Unit, Regional Agency for Environmental Protection, Piedmont Region, Grugliasco, Italy; ⁶Department of Prevention, Azienda Sanitoria Locale 13 Novara, Novara, Italy; ⁷Laboratory of Prevention, Nurses School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece; ⁸Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece; ⁹Medical Research Council and the Health Protection Agency, Centre for Environment and Health, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom

Abstract
Background: Several studies show an association between exposure to aircraft or road traffic noise and cardiovascular effects, which may be mediated by a noise-induced release of stress hormones.

Objective: Our objective was to assess saliva cortisol concentration in relation to exposure to aircraft noise.

Method: A multicenter cross-sectional study, HYENA (Hypertension and Exposure to Noise near Airports) , comprising 4,861 persons was carried out in six European countries. In a subgroup of 439 study participants, selected to enhance the contrast in exposure to aircraft noise, saliva cortisol was assessed three times (morning, lunch, and evening) during 1 day.

Results: We observed an elevation of 6.07 nmol/L [95% confidence interval (CI) , 2.32–9.81 nmol/L] in morning saliva cortisol level in women exposed to aircraft noise at an average 24-hr sound level (L_Aeq,24h) > 60 dB, compared with women exposed to L_Aeq,24h ≤ 50 dB, corresponding to an increase of 34%. Employment status appeared to modify the response. We found no association between noise exposure and saliva cortisol levels in men.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that exposure to aircraft noise increases morning saliva cortisol levels in women, which could be of relevance for noise-related cardiovascular effects.

Key words: cardiovascular disease, gender differences. Environ Health Perspect 117:1713–1717 (2009) . doi:10.1289/ehp.0900933 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 20 July 2009]

Address correspondence to J. Selander, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Box 210, SE 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden. Telephone: 0046739795476. Fax: 00468304571. E-mail: jenny.selander@ki.se

We thank the HYENA (Hypertension and Exposure to Noise near Airports) study team and the participants for their time and effort. We also thank the aviation administration and the road administration in each of the participating countries for their contribution to the exposure assessment.

Members of the HYENA study team: B. Ohlander, E. Thunberg, B. de la Torre, W. Swart, J. Kwekkeboom, G. Wölke, P. Savigny, J. Read, Y. Tan, Y. Soogun, K. Katsouyanni, A. Haralabidis, K. Dimakopoulou, P. Sourtzi, Y. Zahos, V. Velonakis, A. Athanasopoulou, E. Cadum, A. Armitano, F. Mathis, L. Cianfrocca, C. Tovo, and M.P. Ceriani.

This work was supported by grants from the European Commission (Directorate General Research) Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources, Key Action 4 Environment and Health (grant QLRT-2001-02501) .

The authors declare they have no competing financial interests.

Received 30 April 2009 ; accepted 20 July 2009.