Exposure to long-term source-specific transportation noise and incident breast cancer: A pooled study of eight Nordic cohorts

Jesse D Thacher; Anna Oudin; Erin Flanagan; Kristoffer Mattisson; Maria Albin; Nina Roswall; Andrei Pyko; Gunn Marit Aasvang; Zorana J Andersen; Signe Borgquist; Jørgen Brandt; Karin Broberg; Thomas Cole-Hunter; Charlotta Eriksson; Kristina Eneroth; Hrafnhildur Gudjonsdottir; Emilie Helte; Matthias Ketzel; Timo Lanki; Youn-Hee Lim; Karin Leander; Petter Ljungman; Jonas Manjer; Satu Männistö; Ole Raaschou-Nielsen; Göran Pershagen; Debora Rizzuto; Malte Sandsveden; Jenny Selander; Mette K Simonsen; Lara Stucki; Mårten Spanne; Leo Stockfelt; Anne Tjønneland; Tarja Yli-Tuomi; Pekka Tiittanen; Victor H Valencia; Mikael Ögren; Agneta Åkesson; Mette Sørensen

doi:10.1016/j.envint.2023.108108

Exposure to long-term source-specific transportation noise and incident breast cancer: A pooled study of eight Nordic cohorts

Environ Int. 2023 Aug:178:108108. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.108108. Epub 2023 Jul 22.

Authors

Jesse D Thacher¹, Anna Oudin², Erin Flanagan³, Kristoffer Mattisson³, Maria Albin⁴, Nina Roswall⁵, Andrei Pyko⁶, Gunn Marit Aasvang⁷, Zorana J Andersen⁸, Signe Borgquist⁹, Jørgen Brandt¹⁰, Karin Broberg³, Thomas Cole-Hunter⁸, Charlotta Eriksson⁶, Kristina Eneroth¹¹, Hrafnhildur Gudjonsdottir¹², Emilie Helte¹³, Matthias Ketzel¹⁴, Timo Lanki¹⁵, Youn-Hee Lim⁸, Karin Leander¹³, Petter Ljungman¹⁶, Jonas Manjer¹⁷, Satu Männistö¹⁸, Ole Raaschou-Nielsen¹⁹, Göran Pershagen¹³, Debora Rizzuto²⁰, Malte Sandsveden²¹, Jenny Selander¹³, Mette K Simonsen²², Lara Stucki¹³, Mårten Spanne²³, Leo Stockfelt²⁴, Anne Tjønneland²⁵, Tarja Yli-Tuomi²⁶, Pekka Tiittanen²⁶, Victor H Valencia²⁷, Mikael Ögren²⁴, Agneta Åkesson¹³, Mette Sørensen²⁸

Affiliations

¹ Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden. Electronic address: jesse.thacher@med.lu.se.
² Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden; Section for Sustainable Health, Umeå University, Sweden.
³ Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
⁴ Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden; Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁵ Danish Cancer Society Research Centre, Strandboulevarden 49, 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark.
⁶ Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Region Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁷ Department of Air Quality and Noise, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
⁸ Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁹ Department of Oncology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
¹⁰ Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark.
¹¹ Environment and Health Administration, Stockholm, Sweden.
¹² Centre for Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Region Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
¹³ Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
¹⁴ Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark; Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE), University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom.
¹⁵ Department of Health Security, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Kuopio, Finland; School of Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland; Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
¹⁶ Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Cardiology, Danderyd Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
¹⁷ Department of Surgery, Skåne University Hospital Malmö, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.
¹⁸ Department of Public Health and Welfare, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
¹⁹ Danish Cancer Society Research Centre, Strandboulevarden 49, 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark; Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark.
²⁰ Aging Research Centre, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
²¹ Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö, Lund University, Sweden.
²² Department of Neurology and the Parker Institute, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
²³ Environment Department, City of Malmö, Malmö, Sweden.
²⁴ Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden; Occupational and Environmental Medicine, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Institute of Medicine, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
²⁵ Danish Cancer Society Research Centre, Strandboulevarden 49, 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark; Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
²⁶ Department of Health Security, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Kuopio, Finland.
²⁷ Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark; UTE University, Quito, Ecuador.
²⁸ Danish Cancer Society Research Centre, Strandboulevarden 49, 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark; Department of Natural Science and Environment, Roskilde University, Denmark.

PMID: 37490787
DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.108108

Abstract

Background: Environmental noise is an important environmental exposure that can affect health. An association between transportation noise and breast cancer incidence has been suggested, although current evidence is limited. We investigated the pooled association between long-term exposure to transportation noise and breast cancer incidence.

Methods: Pooled data from eight Nordic cohorts provided a study population of 111,492 women. Road, railway, and aircraft noise were modelled at residential addresses. Breast cancer incidence (all, estrogen receptor (ER) positive, and ER negative) was derived from cancer registries. Hazard ratios (HR) were estimated using Cox Proportional Hazards Models, adjusting main models for sociodemographic and lifestyle variables together with long-term exposure to air pollution.

Results: A total of 93,859 women were included in the analyses, of whom 5,875 developed breast cancer. The median (5th-95th percentile) 5-year residential road traffic noise was 54.8 (40.0-67.8) dB Lden, and among those exposed, the median railway noise was 51.0 (41.2-65.8) dB Lden. We observed a pooled HR for breast cancer (95 % confidence interval (CI)) of 1.03 (0.99-1.06) per 10 dB increase in 5-year mean exposure to road traffic noise, and 1.03 (95 % CI: 0.96-1.11) for railway noise, after adjustment for lifestyle and sociodemographic covariates. HRs remained unchanged in analyses with further adjustment for PM_2.5 and attenuated when adjusted for NO₂ (HRs from 1.02 to 1.01), in analyses using the same sample. For aircraft noise, no association was observed. The associations did not vary by ER status for any noise source. In analyses using <60 dB as a cutoff, we found HRs of 1.08 (0.99-1.18) for road traffic and 1.19 (0.95-1.49) for railway noise.

Conclusions: We found weak associations between road and railway noise and breast cancer risk. More high-quality prospective studies are needed, particularly among those exposed to railway and aircraft noise before conclusions regarding noise as a risk factor for breast cancer can be made.

Keywords: Air pollution; Aircraft noise; Breast cancer; Estrogen receptor; Noise; Railway noise; Traffic; Traffic noise.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Breast Neoplasms* / epidemiology
Breast Neoplasms* / etiology
Cohort Studies
Environmental Exposure / adverse effects
Environmental Exposure / analysis
Female
Humans
Noise, Transportation* / adverse effects
Prospective Studies
Risk Factors