THE INCIDENCE OF MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION AND ITS RELATION TO ROAD TRAFFIC NOISE - THE BERLIN CASE-CONTROL STUDIES

The hypothesis that prolonged exposure to road traffic noise causes is chaemic heart disease (IHD) was tested in two case-control studies inc luding a cross-sectional study of middle-aged men. In the Berlin traff ic noise studies, comprising a prestudy and a main study, interviews w ere conducted with 109 and 645 male patients (survivers) with acute my ocardial infarction (MI) and 134 and 3390 controls, respectively, resi ding in Berlin for at least 15 y. The subjects were aged from 41-70 y. The odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of IHD incidence was 1.3 (0. 5-3.8) in the pre- and 1.2 (0.8-1.7) in the main study for men in the highest noise category (71-80 dB(A)) as compared to the lowest noise c ategory (51-60 dB(A)) after adjustment for potentially confounding fac tors. In a subsample of men who had not moved within the past 15 y, th e odds ratio was 1.2 (0.3-4.1) in the pre- and 1.3 (0.9-2.0) in the ma in study, the latter borderline significant (p < 0.10). Cross-sectiona l analyses among the random sample of controls who had not moved withi n the past 15 y revealed for men in the highest noise category a relat ive prevalence of 1.2 (0.7-2.1) for self-reported MI and 1.4 (0.9-2.0) for the relative prevalence of gastro-intestinal ulcers.