Centre for Environmental Health and Sustainability
Reduced Noise Impacts of Short-Term Aircraft Noise (RISTANCO)
Principal Investigator - Anna Hansell
This National Institute of Health Research funded study aims to investigate whether day-to-day changes in aircraft noise levels affect risk of heart attack and stroke in the population living near airports. Daily aircraft noise levels have been generated for 2014-2018 for areas exposed to aircraft noise from London’s Heathrow airport. These will be joined with hospital admissions and mortality data held at the Small Area Health Statistics Unit at Imperial College London. Statistical analyses will investigate whether there are links between daily noise exposures, using different noise metrics, and heart disease and stroke. As noise levels change from day to day, as wind direction and planned respite periods affect flight paths, we will also be able to examine whether respite periods influence any observed associations with health.