Noise is associated with cardiovascular diseases, such as arterial hypertension, coronary artery disease, heart failure and arrhythmia, and should therefore be considered a cardiovascular risk factor.Noise-induced stress increases blood pressure, stress hormone levels, endothelial dysfunction, oxidative stress, NADPH oxidase 2 (NOX2) activity, nitric oxide synthase uncoupling and vascular inflammation in mice, all of which are prevented by NOX2 deficiency.Translational field studies in healthy individuals and patients with heart disease established that short-term simulated aircraft and railway noise impairs sleep quality and increases stress hormone levels, blood pressure, endothelial dysfunction and oxidative stress.The quality of evidence on the adverse cardiovascular effects of noise exposure has increased for several cardiometabolic risk factors since the WHO evaluation in 2018, especially for obesity and diabetes mellitus.Noise-induced stress increases cerebral oxidative stress and downregulates and uncouples neuronal nitric oxide synthase, providing a potential explanation for the observed retardation in the development of cognitive function (memory and learning) in children exposed to aircraft noise.Mitigation strategies to reduce population exposure to transportation noise are available and need to be implemented.
