A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY ON INSOMNIA AMONG JAPANESE ADULT WOMEN IN RELATION TO NIGHTTIME ROAD TRAFFIC NOISE

In an effort to determine the contribution of night-time road traffic noise to insomnia in the general population, 3600 adult Japanese women living in urban residential areas were surveyed. Living near a road w ith a heavy traffic volume is one of the risk factors for insomnia. Th e risk for insomnia in the zones 0-20 m from the main roads increased linearly with the night-time traffic volume. This suggests that road t raffic noise raises the sound level in bedrooms in such zones, and con sequently the prevalence rate of insomnia among the residents, and tha t noise-induced insomnia is an important public hearth problem, at lea st in highly urbanized areas. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.