News
Burden of disease from environmental noise: the WHO publishes a report
Study - 01/04/2011
The World Health Organisation published on March 30th, 2011 the report “Burden of disease from environmental noise: quantification of healthy life years lost in Europe.”
It is an international study, coordinated by the WHO Regional Office for Europe and supported by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC). For each recognised health effect of noise (sleep disturbance, ischaemic heart disease, cognitive impairment of children, tinnitus and annoyance), the burden of disease is assessed with the quantitative indicator “disability-adjusted life-years” (DALYs).
According to this study, at least one million healthy life years are lost every year in western Europe from traffic-related noise:
- 61,000 years due to ischaemic heart disease,
- 45,000 years due to cognitive impairment of children,
- 903,000 years due to sleep disturbance,
- 22,000 years due to tinnitus,
- 587,000 years due to annoyance.
Among environmental risk factors in Europe, noise is the second cause of disease after air pollution. One in three people experiences annoyance during the daytime and one in five has disturbed sleep because of road, rail or air noise from roads, railways and airports, which increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases and high blood pressure.
This publication provides decision-makers with technical support in their quantitative risk assessment of environmental noise and in the implementation of their environmental and public health policies. It also provides the basis for revised WHO guidelines on noise, which Member States requested at the Fifth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, held in Parma (Italy) in 2010.
For the publication of this study, the WHO Regional Director for Europe, Zsuzsanna Jakab, declared:
“Noise pollution is not only an environmental nuisance but also a threat to public health. (...) We hope that this new evidence will prompt governments and local authorities to introduce noise control policies at the national and local levels, thus protecting the health of Europeans from this growing hazard.”
Rok Ho Kim, coordinator of the project at the WHO Regional Office for Europe, added: “We hope that this new publication can influence the update of the European Union directive to include stricter limit values for noise pollution.”
Download the WHO press release
Download the WHO report
According to this study, at least one million healthy life years are lost every year in western Europe from traffic-related noise:
- 61,000 years due to ischaemic heart disease,
- 45,000 years due to cognitive impairment of children,
- 903,000 years due to sleep disturbance,
- 22,000 years due to tinnitus,
- 587,000 years due to annoyance.
Among environmental risk factors in Europe, noise is the second cause of disease after air pollution. One in three people experiences annoyance during the daytime and one in five has disturbed sleep because of road, rail or air noise from roads, railways and airports, which increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases and high blood pressure.
This publication provides decision-makers with technical support in their quantitative risk assessment of environmental noise and in the implementation of their environmental and public health policies. It also provides the basis for revised WHO guidelines on noise, which Member States requested at the Fifth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, held in Parma (Italy) in 2010.
For the publication of this study, the WHO Regional Director for Europe, Zsuzsanna Jakab, declared:
“Noise pollution is not only an environmental nuisance but also a threat to public health. (...) We hope that this new evidence will prompt governments and local authorities to introduce noise control policies at the national and local levels, thus protecting the health of Europeans from this growing hazard.”
Rok Ho Kim, coordinator of the project at the WHO Regional Office for Europe, added: “We hope that this new publication can influence the update of the European Union directive to include stricter limit values for noise pollution.”
Download the WHO press release
Download the WHO report
Regulations - 13/12/2011
The European Commission presented last December 9th a proposal...
