Project aims

The aim of this NIHR funded study is to examine short-term impacts of aircraft noise on acute cardiovascular hospital admissions and mortality events and also to examine potential mitigation strategies through respite periods if associations are detected. The study will exploit the natural experiment of short-term changes in aircraft noise related to flight path changes due to operational reasons and wind direction changes, which make major changes to noise levels on the ground. A case-crossover approach will be used to look at impact of aircraft noise and noise changes on same day and lagged days. Time varying confounders such as air pollution and temperature will be included in the model. Confounders such as personal lifestyle habits, age, sex, ethnicity and day of week effects will be controlled for by the analysis design.

Data

NHS Digital HES data

Mortality data from ONS stroke coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease
Meteorological Office data for meteorological data on temperature and humidity

Air pollution data provided by the Environmental Research Group at Kings College London, 2011

Census and the small area-level Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) data

Contact

Professor Marta Blangiardo