On any given day, according to The Economist, over 4 million people take to the skies. A quarter of a million people are airborne at any moment.1 Health impacts of noise can begin even before birth, and with high levels and an increasing distribution of exposure, any associations between aircraft noise and morbidity are clearly of relevance to public health.2 3

Rosenlund et al (page 769) assess associations between blood pressure and aircraft noise by comparing two study populations, around Arlanda airport and in another part of Stockholm County. Noise contours are constructed over the region for maximum noise level (MNL) and an energy averaged level (FBN).

Health outcomes of people living in proximity tend on …