An exploratory spatial analysis to assess the relationship between deprivation, noise and infant mortality: an ecological study

Environmental Health

Research

Christophe Rougier¹  Jérôme Defrance¹  Wahida Kihal-Talantikite²  Cindy M Padilla³  Séverine Deguen³  Benoit Lalloue⁴  Denis Zmirou-Navier⁴ 

[1] CSTB Scientific and Technical Center for Building, Saint-Martin-d, Hères, France;EHESP School of Public Health, Rennes, France;EHESP School of Public Health, Rennes, France;INSERM U1085-IRSET, Research Institute of Environmental and Occupational Health, Rennes, France;EHESP School of Public Health, Rennes, France;INSERM U1085-IRSET, Research Institute of Environmental and Occupational Health, Rennes, France;Lorraine University, Nancy, France;

关键词: Noise exposure;    Neighbourhood deprivation;    Infant mortality;    Spatial analysis;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1476-069X-12-109

 received in 2012-09-21, accepted in 2013-10-28,  发布年份 2013

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundFew studies have explored how noise might contribute to social health inequalities, and even fewer have considered infant mortality or its risk factors as the health event of interest.In this paper, we investigate the impact of neighbourhood characteristics - both socio-economic status and ambient noise levels - on the spatial distribution of infant mortality in the Lyon metropolitan area, in France.MethodsAll infant deaths (n = 715) occurring between 2000 and 2009 were geocoded at census block level. Each census block was assigned multi-component socio-economic characteristics and Lden levels, which measure exposure to noise. Using a spatial–scan statistic, we examined whether there were significant clusters of high risk of infant mortality according to neighbourhood characteristics.ResultsOur results highlight the fact that infant mortality is non-randomly distributed spatially, with clusters of high risk in the south-east of the Lyon metropolitan area (RR = 1.44; p = 0.09). After adjustments for socio-economic characteristics and noise levels, this cluster disappears or shifts according to in line with different scenarios, suggesting that noise and socio-economic characteristics can partially explain the spatial distribution of infant mortality.ConclusionOur findings show that noise does have an impact on the spatial distribution of mortality after adjustments for socio-economic characteristics. A link between noise and infant mortality seems plausible in view of the three hypothetical, non-exclusive, pathways we propose in our conceptual framework: (i) a psychological pathway, (ii) a physiological disruption process and (iii) an unhealthy behaviours pathway. The lack of studies makes it is difficult to compare our findings with others. They require further research for confirmation and interpretation.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Kihal-Talantikite et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2013