Open AccessBlood pressure of urban school children in relation to road-traffic noise, traffic density and presence of public transport
Author(s) -
Katarina Paunović,
Goran Belojević,
Branko Jakovljević
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
noise and health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.344
H-Index - 48
eISSN - 1998-4030
pISSN - 1463-1741
DOI - 10.4103/1463-1741.113521
Subject(s) - public transport , blood pressure , proxy (statistics) , regression analysis , public health , noise (video) , medicine , cross sectional study , environmental health , demography , transport engineering , statistics , engineering , mathematics , computer science , sociology , pathology , nursing , artificial intelligence , image (mathematics)
The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between noise levels, traffic density and the presence of public transport and children's blood pressure. Another aim was to assess the applicability of public transport as a proxy indicator of noise exposure. A cross-sectional study involved 1113 children aged 7-11 years from a central municipality in Belgrade. Equivalent noise levels were measured in front of all schools and in the middle of all streets. Traffic density was defined as number of light and heavy vehicles per hour. The number of public transport vehicles was calculated from official timetables. Children's addresses were matched with noise levels and transport maps. A physician measured blood pressure with the sphygmomanometer. Children attending schools with public transport running nearby had by 1.3 mmHg higher systolic pressure than did children from schools without public transport. This relationship was independent from children's age, gender, and body mass index, family history of hypertension, some dwelling characteristics, and lifestyle habits. The association between diastolic pressure and public transport was statistically insignificant. The study indicated a possible positive association between the presence of public transport in the vicinity of schools with systolic blood pressure in 7-11 year-old schoolchildren. The presence of public transport may serve as an auxiliary indicator of noise exposure in undeveloped countries with limited capacities for noise measurement or modeling.