Environment/Climate Change
Children Sleep Patterns under Road Traffic Noise Exposure: Evidence from a Taiwanese Birth Cohort Yi-Di, Wang* Yi-Di Wang Wang Wang Wang Wang Wang Institute of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan
Background:
Environmental noise is one of the major environmental risks affecting human health and contributing to sleep disturbance. Insufficient sleep is associated with adverse cardiovascular, psychological, cognitive, and immune outcomes. However, evidence on noise exposure and sleep among children is limited, despite children being in a critical developmental period. Therefore, investigating the association between environmental noise and children’s sleep is warranted.
Objective:
This study aimed to investigate the association between environmental noise exposure and sleep problems among adolescents in the LIGHTS birth cohort.
Methods:
We recruited 1,513 children from the LIGHTS cohort at baseline (2010-2011) in the northern Taiwan, and conducted a follow-up in 2024-2025. Sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) in the follow-up period. Environmental noise in 2025 was estimated using low-cost noise sensors and modelled by machine-learning algorithms. We applied linear regression models to evaluate associations between noise exposure and PSQI scores, adjusting for potential confounders.
Result:
A total of 117 children (out of 421 participants) has poor sleep quality in the follow-up period. We found nighttime noise exposure (Lnight) was positively associated with insufficient sleep (OR= 1.09 per 1dBA increment; 95% CI= 1.01 to 1.18). We found that boys are more vulnerable to night-time noise exposure (OR= 1.21 per 1 dBA, 95% CI= 1.06 to 1.41) compared to those in girls. Findings were still robust after further adjusting for parental socioeconomical status factors.
Conclusion:
Our findings indicates that nighttime environmental noise is associated with poor sleep quality in children. These results underscore the importance of focusing on nighttime noise exposure in environmental health research and suggest that noise mitigation strategies targeting nighttime periods may contribute to improved sleep health among children.