14, 15 Nonetheless, the results about consumption of psychotropic medication are contradictory. 10 The former is associated with symptoms of anxiety and depression, 11, 12 risk of depression, 13 and the onset of sleep disturbances for nocturnal exposures. 7–9 Chronic exposure to traffic noise concerns a much higher proportion of the population than exposure to aircraft noise. 1 Besides the auditory and cardiovascular effects, 2 neither of which are studied here, the published studies suggest that chronic exposure to environmental aircraft noise increases the risks of sleep disorders, stress, anxiety, irritability, psychological distress and consumption of psychotropic drugs 3–6 the results for the risks of psychiatric disorders, especially generalized anxiety, are contradictory. Further research based on strictly individual approaches is warranted to assess exposure to road traffic noise more precisely and reliably than allowed by noise propagation prediction models.Įnvironmental noise is, with air pollution, one of the principal environmental risk factors in terms of disability-adjusted life years lost. Conclusion: We found some evidence that potential exposure to night-time road traffic noise might affect individual use of anxiolytics–hypnotics.
Results: The ZINB model showed a small but significant increase in the risk of purchasing higher numbers of anxiolytics–hypnotics for Ln greater than 55 dB(A) only in the low deprivation stratum. Analyses were stratified by the deprivation level of the census block of residence to control for the confounding effects of neighbourhood socio-economic status. Association between the number of purchases of anxiolytics–hypnotics in 2008–9 and the Ln was analysed with a zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) model adjusted for characteristics of individuals (sociodemographic, consultations with general practitioners, presence of chronic psychiatric disorder), prescribers (demographic, specialty, workload) and neighbourhoods (medical density, complaints filed for environmental noise).
We used the CadnaA noise propagation prediction model to calculate a potential road noise exposure indicator at dwellings for the night-period: Ln.
Methods: Cohort of 190 617 inhabitants of Marseilles (aged 18–64 years) covered by the National Health Insurance Fund. We examined whether exposure to night-time road traffic noise in Marseilles (France) is associated with an increased risk of purchasing anxiolytic or hypnotic medications. Background: Studies suggest that road traffic noise increases risks of sleep disturbances, anxiety and depressive symptoms, but few have focused on psychotropic drug use.