What are the indirect, nonauditory cardiovascular health effects of transportation noise?
Anti-Noise White-Noise Sleep System (Circ Res 2024, PMID 38662856) — the World Health Organization estimates that traffic-related noise in Western Europe results in at least 1.6 million healthy life years lost annually. The abstract for Anti-Noise White-Noise Sleep System states no limitations.
Source: Circ Res 2024, PMID 38662856 ↗ · Research map · How Magellan grades evidence · evidence confidence: medium
Circ Res · 2024 · PMID 38662856 · DOI 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.123.323584
Transportation noise, especially at night, significantly increases cardiovascular disease risk by disrupting sleep, elevating stress, and causing oxidative stress.
The question
What are the indirect, nonauditory cardiovascular health effects of transportation noise?
What they tested
Transportation noise, particularly at night, increases cardiovascular morbidity and mortality by causing sleep fragmentation, elevated stress hormones, and increased oxidative stress, which can lead to vascular dysfunction, inflammation, and hypertension.
How they did it
This review provides an updated overview of epidemiological research on transportation noise and cardiovascular risk factors and disease. It also includes mechanistic insights from clinical and experimental studies, discusses potential effects on vascular dysfunction, oxidative stress, and inflammation in humans and animals, and explains underlying pathomechanisms. Current and future noise mitigation strategies are also described.
What they found
Epidemiological studies show that transportation noise increases the risk for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, with strong evidence for ischemic heart disease, heart failure, and stroke. Nighttime traffic noise leads to sleep fragmentation, shortened sleep, elevated stress hormones, and increased oxidative stress in the vasculature and brain. These factors promote vascular dysfunction, inflammation, and arterial hypertension, thereby increasing cardiovascular risk. The World Health Organization estimates that traffic-related noise in Western Europe results in at least 1.6 million healthy life years lost annually.
What it means
Transportation noise is a significant cardiovascular risk factor, primarily through indirect, nonauditory mechanisms involving sleep disruption, stress hormone elevation, and oxidative stress, leading to vascular dysfunction, inflammation, and hypertension.
Limitations
The abstract does not explicitly state limitations of the review itself, but rather summarizes the existing evidence and mechanisms.
Where the published abstract does not list limitations, we say so rather than inventing them. Read the full paper on PubMed before drawing conclusions.
The paper at a glance
| Magellan’s evidence label | reduces nighttime noise exposure (our label for this citation — see PubMed for the paper’s own title and authors) |
|---|---|
| Journal | Circ Res |
| Year | 2024 |
| PMID | 38662856 ↗ |
| DOI | 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.123.323584 ↗ |
| Topic | Immunity, inflammation & resilience |
Read the source: PubMed record (authors, abstract, full citation) ↗ · Publisher via doi.org ↗
Where Magellan uses this paper
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Anti-Noise White-Noise Sleep System
A large epidemiological and mechanistic literature links chronic nighttime transportation noise to higher blood pressure and increased risk of ischemic heart disease, and human field and imaging studies show that simulated nocturnal traffic noise can acutely impair endothelial function and raise arterial pressure…
An anti-noise white-noise sleep system is a device that emits steady broadband sound to mask…
Research describes the compound or intervention studied. It is not a claim about any specific product.
Molecules & mechanisms in this paper
Each of these is named in the paper’s own words above. Open the monograph for the full mechanism and its other citations.
Cite this page
These citations point at this summary. To cite the original paper with its full author list, use the PubMed record or doi.org.
Magellan Longevity. (2026). What are the indirect, nonauditory cardiovascular health effects of transportation noise? [Plain-English summary of Circ Res 2024, PMID 38662856, DOI 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.123.323584]. Magellan Longevity. https://magellanlongevity.com/study/s196.html@misc{magellan_s196,
title = {What are the indirect, nonauditory cardiovascular health effects of transportation noise?},
author = {{Magellan Longevity}},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://magellanlongevity.com/study/s196.html}},
note = {Plain-English summary of PubMed PMID 38662856; DOI 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.123.323584; Circ Res 2024. Reviewed by Gabriel Radu, DO},
urldate = {2026-08-11}
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