Façades, floors and maps - Influence of exposure measurement error on the association between transportation noise and myocardial infarction.
Bias
Exposure misclassification
Mortality
Railway noise
Road traffic noise
Journal
Environment international
ISSN: 1873-6750
Titre abrégé: Environ Int
Pays: Netherlands
ID NLM: 7807270
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
02 2019
02 2019
Historique:
received:
05
08
2018
revised:
07
12
2018
accepted:
08
12
2018
pubmed:
10
1
2019
medline:
14
6
2019
entrez:
10
1
2019
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Epidemiological research on transportation noise uses different exposure assessment strategies based on façade point estimates or regulatory noise maps. The degree of exposure measurement error and subsequent potentially biased risk estimates related to exposure definition is unclear. We aimed to evaluate associations between transportation noise exposure and myocardial infarction (MI) mortality considering: assumptions about residential floor, façade point selection (loudest, quietest, nearest), façade point vs. noise map estimates, and influence of averaging exposure at coarser spatial scales (e.g. in ecological health studies). L Hazard ratios (HRs) for the best match residential floor were 1.05 (1.02-1.07) and 1.03 (1.01-1.05) per IQR (11.3 and 15.0 dB) for road traffic and railway noise, respectively. In most situations, comparing the alternative exposure definitions to this reference resulted in attenuated HRs. For example, assuming everyone resided on the middle or everyone on first floor introduced little bias (%Bias in excess risk: -1.9 to 4.4 road traffic and -4.4 to 10.7 railway noise). Using the noise grids generated a bias of approximately -26% for both sources. Averaging the maps at a coarser spatial scale led to bias from -19.4 to -105.1% for road traffic and 17.6 to -34.3% for railway noise and inflated the confidence intervals such that some HRs were no longer statistically significant. Changes in spatial scale introduced more bias than changes in residential floor. Use of noise maps to represent residential exposure may underestimate noise-induced health effects, in particular for small-scale heterogeneously distributed road traffic noise in urban settings.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
Epidemiological research on transportation noise uses different exposure assessment strategies based on façade point estimates or regulatory noise maps. The degree of exposure measurement error and subsequent potentially biased risk estimates related to exposure definition is unclear. We aimed to evaluate associations between transportation noise exposure and myocardial infarction (MI) mortality considering: assumptions about residential floor, façade point selection (loudest, quietest, nearest), façade point vs. noise map estimates, and influence of averaging exposure at coarser spatial scales (e.g. in ecological health studies).
METHODS
L
RESULTS
Hazard ratios (HRs) for the best match residential floor were 1.05 (1.02-1.07) and 1.03 (1.01-1.05) per IQR (11.3 and 15.0 dB) for road traffic and railway noise, respectively. In most situations, comparing the alternative exposure definitions to this reference resulted in attenuated HRs. For example, assuming everyone resided on the middle or everyone on first floor introduced little bias (%Bias in excess risk: -1.9 to 4.4 road traffic and -4.4 to 10.7 railway noise). Using the noise grids generated a bias of approximately -26% for both sources. Averaging the maps at a coarser spatial scale led to bias from -19.4 to -105.1% for road traffic and 17.6 to -34.3% for railway noise and inflated the confidence intervals such that some HRs were no longer statistically significant.
CONCLUSION
Changes in spatial scale introduced more bias than changes in residential floor. Use of noise maps to represent residential exposure may underestimate noise-induced health effects, in particular for small-scale heterogeneously distributed road traffic noise in urban settings.
Identifiants
pubmed: 30622064
pii: S0160-4120(18)31742-2
doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2018.12.015
pii:
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
399-406Informations de copyright
Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.