Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T06:19:59.006Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Aircraft noise and social factors in psychiatric hospital admission rates: a re-examination of some data

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Karl D. Kryter
Karl D. Kryter*
Affiliation:
SRI International, Menlo Park, CA, USA
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Karl D. Kryter, POB 1017, Borrego Springs, CA 92004, USA.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

Jenkins et al. (1981) published data on rates of admission to three psychiatric hospitals for 12 large samples of people living near London's Heathrow Airport. The percentages of people who were classified as being affluent, living alone, males having moved within last five years, unemployed, and immigrants, as well as the levels of aircraft noise to which they were exposed, were given for each of the samples. Multiple-correlation analyses revealed the following: (1) movement of males in the previous five years was not generally associated with hospital admission rates; (2) immigrant status, living alone, and affluence were negatively, and generally statistically significantly, associated with admission rates; and (3) unemployment and level of exposure to aircraft noise were positively, and generally statistically significantly, associated with admission rates. Unlike the conclusion reached by Jenkins et al., it is concluded from the present analysis of their data that there are statistically significant associations between psychiatric hospital admission rates and level of exposure to aircraft noise. This difference in findings appears to be due to a more comprehensive assessment of the interrelations of all the tested socioeconomic and aircraft noise variables by the multiple-correlation procedure used in the present analysis, in comparison with the graphic modelling assessment applied by Jenkins et al. to a limited portion of the socioeconomic data. Together, the five socioeconomic and aircraft noise variables correlate at about 0·98 with hospitalization rates for most population groups.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , May 1990 , pp. 395 - 411
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abey-Wickrama, I., Brook, M. F., Gattoni, F. E. G. & Herridge, C. F. (1969). Mental hospital admissions and aircraft noise. Lancet ii, 1275–1277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ando, Y. & Hattori, H. (1974). Reaction of infants to aircraft noise and effects of the noise on human fetal life. Practica Otologica, Kyoto 67, 120–136.Google Scholar
Ando, Y. & Hattori, H. (1977). Effects of noise on human placental lactogen (HPL) levels in maternal plasma. British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 85, 115–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cochrane, R. (1977). Mental illness in immigrants to England and Wales: an analysis of mental hospital admissions, 1971. Social Psychiatry 12, 25–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faris, R. E. L. & Dunham, N. W. (1939). Mental Disorders in Urban Areas. Hafner: New York.Google Scholar
Gattoni, F. & Tarnopolsky, A. (1973). Aircraft noise and psychiatric morbidity. Psychological Medicine 3, 515–520.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grandjean, E., Graf, P., Lauber, A., Meir, H. P. & Muller, R. (1976). Survey on the effects of aircraft noise around three civil airports in Switzerland. INTER-NOISE 76 Proceedings (ed. Kerlin, R. L.), pp. 85–90. Institute for Noise Control Engineering: Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Guilford, J. F. (1956). Fundamental Statistics in Psychology and Education. McGraw-Hill: New York.Google Scholar
Jenkins, L., Tarnopolsky, A. & Hand, D. (1981). Psychiatric admissions and aircraft noise from London Airport: four-year, three-hospitals study. Psychological Medicine 11, 765–782.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Knipschild, P. (1977 a). Medical effects of aircraft noise: community cardio-vascular survey. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health 40, 185–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knipschild, P. (1977 b). Medical effects of aircraft noise: general practice survey. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health 40, 191–196.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Knipschild, P. & Oudschoorn, N. (1977). Medical effects of aircraft noise: drug survey. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health 40, 197–200.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Knipschild, P., Meijer, H. & Salle, H. (1981). Aircraft noise and birth weight. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health 48, 131–136.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kryter, K. D. (1985). The Effects of Noise on Man, 2nd edn.Academic Press: New York.Google Scholar
Levy, L. & Herzog, A. A. (1974). Effects of population density and crowding on health and social adaptation in the Netherlands. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 15, 228–240.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levy, L. & Rowitz, L. (1970). The spatial distribution of treated mental disorders in Chicago. Social Psychiatry 5, 1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levy, L. & Rowitz, L. (1971). Ecological attributes of high and low rate mental hospital utilization areas in Chicago. Social Psychiatry 6, 20–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meecham, W. C. & Smith, H. G. (1977). Effects of jet aircraft noise on mental hospital admissions. British Journal of Audiology 11, 81–85.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mezey, A. G. & Evans, E. (1970). Psychiatric admissions from North London related to demographic and ecological characteristics. British Journal of Psychiatry 117, 187–193.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schell, L. (1981). Environmental noise and human placental growth. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 56, 63–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar