Table A48.
Summary of findings table for the association between aircraft noise exposure and the change in waist circumference.
| Question | Does Exposure to Aircraft Noise Increase the Risk of Obesity | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| People | Adult population (men and women) | |||
| Setting | Residential setting: people living in Stockholm in areas located around the airport | |||
| Outcome | Change in waist circumference (cm) | |||
| Summary of findings | Change in waist circumference per 10 dB increase in aircraft noise level (LDEN) | 3.46 (95% CI: 2.13–4.77) cm | ||
| Number of participants (# studies) | 5156 (1) | |||
| Number of cases | NR | |||
| Rating | Adjustment to rating | |||
| Quality assessment | Starting rating | 1 cohort study # | 4 (high) | |
| Factors decreasing confidence | Risk of bias | Limited a | No downgrading | |
| Inconsistency | NA b | No downgrading | ||
| Indirectness | None c | No downgrading | ||
| Imprecision | Limited d | No downgrading | ||
| Publication bias | NA e | No downgrading | ||
| Factors increasing confidence | Strength of association | Large f | Upgrading | |
| Exposure-response gradient | Evidence of a significant exposure-response gradient f | Upgrading | ||
| Possible confounding | No conclusions can be drawn g | No upgrading | ||
| Overall judgement of quality of evidence | 3 (moderate) h | |||
# Since a cohort study was available, we started with a grading of “high” (4); a The quality of the study was judged as high; b Since only one study is available, this criterion is not applicable; c The study assessed population, exposure and outcome of interest; d We considered the results of the study to be precise: The standard deviation of the reported effect size was smaller than the mean difference in waist circumference; e Since the results of only one study were available, it was not possible to test for publication bias or small study bias; f The study found a harmful effect of aircraft noise. There was evidence of a significant exposure-response gradient: we found a significant effect size of 3.46 cm per 10 dB. The noise range of the study under evaluation was 48–65 dB. This means that if the air traffic noise level increases from 48 to 65 dB, the waist circumference increased more than 5.88 cm; g We were not able to draw any conclusions whether possible residual confounders or biases would reduce our effect estimate; h We graded the overall quality of the evidence to be ”high” (4). Because only one study was available, we downgraded the overall quality of evidence to “moderate” (3).