Its hard to find any fan of traffic noise. Most of us would probably agree its annoying. But a new study points to a more deadly result of the cacophony: an increased risk of stroke, especially in those aged 65 or older.
Researchers at the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, Danish Cancer Society in Copenhagen, Denmark, said that for every 10 decibels more of noise, the risk of having a stroke increased by 14 percent among the 51,485 participants in their study. In participants older than 65, the risk increased by 27 percent for every 10-decibel of higher road traffic noise.
Senior researcher Dr. Mette Sorenson said its likely that the noise acts as a stressor and disrupts sleep. That in turn increases blood pressure and heart rate.
In other news about stroke, a new study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, found that stroke victims are more likely to survive and have a full recovery when they are taken to one of the stroke centers in the U.S. rather than to a hospital or another medical institution.
Researchers looked at more than 30,000 different patients for 30 days, all from New York State, focusing on what type of impact stroke centers had on their survival. Researchers discovered that the survival rate of stroke patients who are brought to a stroke center is higher than those who were treated outside of a stroke center.
After the 30 days, 10.1% of the patients who were treated at a stroke center had diedabout 20 percent less than the 12.5% of stroke patients who died after being treated at a facility that was not a stroke center. If you want to find a stroke center near you, visit www.stroke.org.
Robin Westen is ThirdAges medical reporter. Check for her daily updates. She is the author of Relationship Repair.
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