Traffic Noise, Insomnia and Sleep Medication Use
Invited paper
Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Tuesday 2 june, 2015, 15:00 - 15:20
0.4 Brussels (189)
Abstract:
Background
Few population-based studies on the association between road traffic noise
and sleep disturbances have focused on outcomes such as symptoms of
insomnia. Outcomes where noise is suggested as the cause of sleep
disturbances are more commonly used. Sleep medication use may be an
indicator of severe sleep disturbances; however, studies on the association
between road traffic noise and sleep medication use remain scarce.
Aims
The aims were to study the associations between night-time road traffic
noise and 1) symptoms of insomnia (difficulties falling asleep, awakenings
during the night, and waking up too early) and 2) use of sleep medications,
both self-reported and register-based. We also assessed the agreement
between self-reported and register-based sleep medication use.
Methods:
The study population is from the Health and Environment in Oslo study
(HELMILO) (2009-10) (N=13,019). We defined insomnia symptoms as sleep
problems occurring ≥ 3-5 times per week. Individual data on sleep
medications were obtained from the Norwegian Prescription Database (NorPD).
Modeled noise levels (Lnight) were assigned to each participant’s home
address. Logistic regression models were used to analyze the associations.
For assessing the agreement between self-reported and register-based use of
sleep medications we computed sensitivity and specificity.
Results:
We observed statistically significant associations between noise exposure
and all three symptoms of insomnia. Self-reported sleep medication use was
not associated with noise. A spline estimated for the association between
traffic noise and register-based sleep medication use indicated a linear
relationship. Compared with register-based sleep medication use, self-
reported medication use showed high specificity, but lower sensitivity.
Conclusions:
Our results suggest that individuals living in noise exposed areas have an
increased risk of experiencing symptoms of insomnia and using sleep
medications. Traffic noise related differently to self-reported sleep
medication use and register-based sleep medication use. This may reflect the
difference between self-reported and objective data.