People who live with high levels of traffic noise face an increased risk of carrying a "spare tyre" through having surplus fat around the waist, researchers warn today.
The findings, from Sweden, could indicate a link between living near noisy traffic and lifestyles.
But the researchers say the extra fat around the waist could result from hormonal reactions to the stress of the noisy environment.
Researchers studied the amount of road, rail and aircraft noise experienced by more than 5,000 people.
The study, reported in Occupational and Environmental Medicine, found no link between noise and overall bodyweight.
But people exposed to road, rail and air noise faced a doubled risk of having a large waist – while those exposed to one source of noise had a 25% increased chance of having extra fat around the abdomen.
The researchers, led by Professor Göran Pershagen, of the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, say: “This may explain why the effects of noise were mainly seen for markers of central obesity, such as waist circumference and waist-hip ratio, rather than for generalised obesity, measured by body mass index."
Exposure to traffic noise and markers of obesity Occupational and Environmental Medicine 26 May 2015; doi 10.1136/oemed-2014-102516 [abstract]
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