Traffic noise has been associated with prevalence of hypertension, but reports are inconsistent for blood pressure (BP). To ascertain noise effects and to disentangle them from those suspected to be from traffic-related air pollution, it may be essential to estimate people’s noise exposure indoors in bedrooms. The objective of the study was to analyze associations between long-term exposure to indoor traffic noise in bedrooms and prevalent hypertension and systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) BP, considering long-term exposure to outdoor nitrogen dioxide (NO2).

Traffic noise has been associated with prevalence of hypertension, but reports are inconsistent for blood pressure (BP). People’s noise exposure indoors might be essential to ascertain effects and disentangle them from those suspected for traffic-related air pollution.

Increasing attention is being paid to the subject of air pollution, with the bulk of previous work being done in animal models suggesting that exposure to air pollution causes atherosclerosis—stiffening and calcification of the arteries—in rabbits and mice. The findings of Sara Adar and colleagues, published in PLOS Medicine, take us a step forward in clarifying the broader implications of air pollution by offering further evidence in humans that ambient particulate matter (PM) contributes to the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD).