Association of environmental noise exposure with cortisol levels in children from eight European birth cohorts
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Environmental noise is a major environmental risk factor for public health. According to the noise reaction model the release of stress hormones like cortisol in response to noise exposure, plays a key role in the development of noise-induced health effects. We aimed to study the association between environmental noise with both acute (UCC) and cumulative (HCC) cortisol levels in children 5–12 years of age. To do so, we analysed data from the HELIX cohort –with spot UCC data- and from the Generation R and INMA cohorts (Gipuzkoa and Sabadell) –with HCC data. The analytical sample involved: 750 HELIX children (mean age = 7.75), 1326 Generation R children (mean age = 6.06), 111 INMA-Sabadell children (mean age = 8.75) and 288 INMA-Gipuzkoa children (mean age = 7.85). Day-evening-night equivalent (Lden) environmental noise exposure during the year of the follow-up was estimated in the addresses of participants, using existing noise maps. Directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) were used to identify appropriate covariates and reduce the chance for biased estimation. We used mixed-effects modelling and linear modelling to examine the association between Lden and cortisol concentration using complete case analyses. None of the models reached the statistical significance. We observed no correlation between HCC and UCC in INMA-Sabadell participants, for whom both urinary and hair cortisol data were available. Future research should prioritize investigating the effects of environmental noise on HCC, as it may serve as a more reliable indicator for assessing associations with chronic exposures. Additionally, future studies on noise-induced health effects in children should incorporate other biomarkers of stress and chronic inflammation to provide a more comprehensive understanding of these associations.
Date Issued
2025-07-15
Date Acceptance
2025-04-03
Citation
Environmental Research, 2025, 277
ISSN
0013-9351
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal / Book Title
Environmental Research
Volume
277
Copyright Statement
© 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Identifier
10.1016/j.envres.2025.121541
Subjects
Environmental noise Children Hair cortisol concentration Urine cortisol concentration ATHLETE project BM, Body Mass Index
CBCL, Child Behaviour Checklist
DAG, Directed acyclic graph
HCC, hair cortisol concentration
HPA, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal
LC-MS/MS, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry
L den , day-evening-night noise indicator
NDVI, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index
RIA, radioimmunoassay
UCC, urine cortisol concentration
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
121541
Date Publish Online
2025-04-07