Association between steel plant noise and hypertension in China:a Meta-analysis

Objective To evaluate the relationship between noise exposure and the risk of hypertension in steel plant of China. Methods Based on the online search for publication, related literatures were collected according to keywords from home and abroad, Stata 12.0 was used to perform Meta-analysis. Results The total identified papers were 3 392 from databases, 12 included articles involving 6 regions of China met the eligibility criteria. A random effects model was used to calculate the OR with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the effect size. Noise exposure was positively associated with prevalence of hypertension(OR=2.09, 95% CI:1.68-2.60), the OR for < 85 dB(A) group was 1.24(95% CI:0.60-2.54), 85-dB(A) group was 1.74 (95% CI:1.27-2.37), 95-dB(A) group was 3.38 (95% CI:2.61-4.37), and ≥ 105 dB(A) group was 5.51 (95% CI:3.84-7.90). Besides, hypertension risk would increase along with the increasing of noise exposure. The results were stable judged by sensitivity analysis and published bias analysis. Conclusions Noise in the steel plant may increase the risk of hypertension and it may go rising as the noise exposure becoming more severe.