Are both air pollution and noise driving adverse cardiovascular health effects from motor vehicles?

Motor vehicles are the dominant source of both air pollution and noise in many communities. Increasing epidemiologic evidence links chronic traffic noise exposure with adverse cardiovascular outcomes including hypertension, myocardial infarction (MI), and ischemic heart disease (IHD) (Babisch, 2006; van Kempen et al., 2002). There is also substantial epidemiologic evidence linking long-term exposure to air pollution, including that from traffic, with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality (Adar and Kaufman, 2007; Brook et al., 2010; HEI, 2010). Since noise and air pollution share traffic as a common source, it is possible for noise and air pollution to confound and interact with one another in studies of long-term exposure and cardiovascular health.