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Evaluation of the relationship between psychological distress and sleep problems with annoyance caused by exposure to environmental noise in the adult population of Tehran Metropolitan City, Iran

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the psychological distress and sleep problems with environmental noise annoyance in adult population.

Methods

This is a cross-sectional study on 822 adult population of Tehran City in 2016. Integrated cluster stratified random sampling and Kish grid method were used. Noise annoyance, the day-night average sound level (Ldn), nighttime average sound level (Lnight), and daytime average sound level (Lday) were selected as noise exposure indicators. The prevalence of psychological distress and sleep problems were assessed using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) and the PSQI questionnaire, respectively. Multiple logistic regression analysis was applied for data analysis.

Results

Among the participants 46.03%% were exposed to a sound level higher than the daytime standard level (55 dB) and 84.6% were exposed to a level higher than the nighttime standard limit (45 dBA). According to the results, 49% of the subjects had poor sleep quality and 66% were highly sensitive to noise. In addition, 17.73% had a high risk of mental disorders and 16.48% were found to have a mild risk of mental disorders. There was found a statistically significant association between psychological distress and the noise annoyance at home (OR = 1.3 CI 95% (1.17–1.44)) and at work environment (OR = 1.18 CI 95% (1.08–1.28)).

Conclusion

The findings indicated that the study population was highly sensitive to noise. In addition, the relatively high percentage of people who exposed to non-standard levels of sound indicates that this exposure has the potential to cause physical and mental consequences among them.

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Acknowledgements

This paper was prepared from a research project financially supported by Urban Research and Planning Center of Iran (Contract No.: 551239). The authors hereby appreciate the financial support of the center. Special thanks to Air Quality Control Company of Tehran for providing the authors with the noise maps.

Funding

This paper was prepared from a research project financially supported by Urban Research and Planning Center of Iran (Contract No: 551239).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Reza Monazzam

  2. Centre for Air Pollution Research (CAPR), Institute for Environmental Research (IER), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Reza Monazzam & Mansour Shamsipour

  3. Department of Research Methodology and Data Analysis, Institute for Environmental Research (IER), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Mansour Shamsipour

  4. Tehran Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

    Narges Zaredar

  5. Manager of studies of city services and the environment, Tehran Urban Planning & Research Center, Tehran Municipality, Tehran, Iran

    Reza Bayat

Authors
  1. Mohammad Reza Monazzam
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  2. Mansour Shamsipour
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mansour Shamsipour.

Ethics declarations

We hereby declare that addressing of some comments from the reviewers, was planned and executed by Reza Bayat. Therefore, in the revised manuscript we have decided to include him as a co-author of the paper. This inclusion was discussed with and has received consent from all the co-authors of the paper.

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Monazzam, M.R., Shamsipour, M., Zaredar, N. et al. Evaluation of the relationship between psychological distress and sleep problems with annoyance caused by exposure to environmental noise in the adult population of Tehran Metropolitan City, Iran. J Environ Health Sci Engineer 20, 1–10 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40201-021-00703-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40201-021-00703-z

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