Long-term exposure to road traffic noise was tied to an increased risk of Parkinson's disease in a cohort study from Denmark.The analysis followed 3.1 million Danish adults for 13 years.Other environmental variables have been tied to Parkinson's risk, including pesticides, industrial solvents, air pollution, and potential exposure to toxicants from golf courses.
Long-term exposure to residential road traffic noise was associated with an increased risk of Parkinson's disease, a study of more than 3 million adults in Denmark showed.
Traffic noise levels at the most exposed facade of people's homes over 10 years was associated with an increased risk of incident Parkinson's disease per interquartile increment of 11.5 dB, after adjusting for sociodemographics, air pollution, and green space (HR 1.03, 95% CI 1.00-1.05), reported Mette Sørensen, PhD, of the Danish Cancer Institute in Copenhagen, and colleagues.
People with a quiet facade had a lower risk of developing Parkinson's disease than those whose homes were exposed to high levels of noise on all sides, the researchers found. A difference of 10 dB or more between the most and least exposed facades was associated with a decline in Parkinson's risk across different levels of traffic noise above 50 dB, they wrote in JAMA Neurology.
