Table A18.
Summary of findings table for the association between aircraft noise exposure and the incidence of hypertension.
| Question | Does Exposure to Aircraft Noise Increase the Risk of Hypertension | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| People | Adult population (men and women, 35–56 years) | |||
| Setting | Residential setting: people living around Stockholm Arlanda airport in Sweden | |||
| Outcome | The incidence of hypertension | |||
| Summary of findings | RR per 10 dB increase in aircraft noise level (LDEN) | 1.00 (0.77–1.30) per 10 dB | ||
| Number of participants (# studies) | 4712 (1) | |||
| Number of cases | 1346 | |||
| Rating | Adjustment to rating | |||
| Quality assessment | Starting rating | 1 cohort study # | 4 (high) | |
| Factors decreasing confidence | Risk of bias | Serious limitations a | Downgrading | |
| Inconsistency | NA b | No downgrading | ||
| Indirectness | None c | No downgrading | ||
| Imprecision | None d | No downgrading | ||
| Publication bias | NA e | No downgrading | ||
| Factors increasing confidence | Strength of association | Small f | No upgrading | |
| Exposure-response gradient | No evidence of an exposure-response gradient f | Nu upgrading | ||
| Possible confounding | Non-residual misclassification of disease | No upgrading | ||
| Overall judgement of quality of evidence | 2 (Low) g | |||
# Since a cohort study was available, we started with a grading of “high” (4); a Participants were a (partly) random selection from people participating in the Stockholm Preventive Programm. Hypertension was ascertained by both a clinical examination and a questionnaire; although it was not possible to exactly assess the attrition rate, it was probably > 20%; b Since only one study was evaluated, this criterion was not applied; c The study assessed population, exposure, and outcome of interest; d We considered the results to be precise: the sample was sufficiently large, and the 95% CI was sufficiently narrow; e Since only one study was evaluated, we were not able to test for publication bias; f We found a non-significant effect size of 1.00 per 10 dB. The noise range of the evaluated study was 45–65 dB (LDEN); g The overall judgement of the quality of evidence was graded as “moderate” (3). Since only one study was available, we downgraded the overall level of evidence to “low” (2).