Aircraft noise control policy and mental health: a natural experiment based on the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA)

Liming Li; Ludovico Carrino; Erica Reinhard; Erik Timmermans; Martijn Huisman; Jip Claassens; Jeroen Lakerveld; Mauricio Avendano

doi:10.1136/jech-2020-214264

Aircraft noise control policy and mental health: a natural experiment based on the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA)

Liming Li
, Ludovico Carrino
, Erica Reinhard
, Erik Timmermans
, Martijn Huisman
, Jip Claassens
, Jeroen Lakerveld
, Mauricio Avendano

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

BACKGROUND: This study examines the impact of environmental noise policy on depressive symptoms by exploiting the national experiment afforded by the New Deal aircraft noise control policy introduced in Schiphol (Amsterdam) in 2008.

METHODS: Data came from older adults (ages 57-102) participating in three waves (2005/2006, 2008/2009 and 2011/2012) of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA) (N=1746). Aircraft noise data from the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency were linked to LASA cohort addresses using the GeoDMS software. The Centre for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale was used to measure depressive symptoms. Using a difference-in-dfferences (DiD) approach, we compared changes in CES-D levels of depressive symptoms before and after the policy between people living close (≤15 km) and those living far away (>15 km) from Schiphol airport.

RESULTS: There were few changes in noise levels after the introduction of the policy. Estimates suggested that the policy did not lead to a reduction in noise levels in the treatment areas relative to the control areas (DiD estimate=0.916 dB(A), SE=0.345), and it had no significant impact on levels of depressive symptoms (DiD estimate=0.044, SE=0.704). Results were robust to applying different distance thresholds.

CONCLUSION: The New Deal aircraft noise control policy introduced in Amsterdam was not effective in reducing aircraft noise levels and had no impact on depressive symptoms in older people. Our results raise questions about the effectiveness of the current noise control policy to improve the well-being of residents living near the airport.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	458-463
Number of pages	6
Journal	Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
Volume	75
Issue number	5
Early online date	4 Nov 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2020-214264
Publication status	Published - May 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding

Funding Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA) is carried out at the VU University (VU) and Amsterdam UMC, location VUmc (VU University Medical Center) and was initiated by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) in the Netherlands. This work was supported by European Union Horizon 2020 award ‘MINDMAP: Promoting Mental Wellbeing in the Ageing Urban Population’ (Grant number: 667661). It also represents independent research partly supported by the ESRC Centre for Society and Mental Health at King’s College London (ESRC Reference:ES/S012567/1).

Funders	Funder number
Horizon 2020
King’s College London
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme	667661
Economic and Social Research Council	ES/S012567/1

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Keywords

Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging
Aircraft
Humans
Mental Health
Middle Aged
Noise, Transportation
Policy

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10.1136/jech-2020-214264

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Persistent link

Cite this

@article{6105595ca0ce49858be783e5c0341a15,

title = "Aircraft noise control policy and mental health: a natural experiment based on the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA)",

abstract = "BACKGROUND: This study examines the impact of environmental noise policy on depressive symptoms by exploiting the national experiment afforded by the New Deal aircraft noise control policy introduced in Schiphol (Amsterdam) in 2008.METHODS: Data came from older adults (ages 57-102) participating in three waves (2005/2006, 2008/2009 and 2011/2012) of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA) (N=1746). Aircraft noise data from the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency were linked to LASA cohort addresses using the GeoDMS software. The Centre for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale was used to measure depressive symptoms. Using a difference-in-dfferences (DiD) approach, we compared changes in CES-D levels of depressive symptoms before and after the policy between people living close (≤15 km) and those living far away (>15 km) from Schiphol airport.RESULTS: There were few changes in noise levels after the introduction of the policy. Estimates suggested that the policy did not lead to a reduction in noise levels in the treatment areas relative to the control areas (DiD estimate=0.916 dB(A), SE=0.345), and it had no significant impact on levels of depressive symptoms (DiD estimate=0.044, SE=0.704). Results were robust to applying different distance thresholds.CONCLUSION: The New Deal aircraft noise control policy introduced in Amsterdam was not effective in reducing aircraft noise levels and had no impact on depressive symptoms in older people. Our results raise questions about the effectiveness of the current noise control policy to improve the well-being of residents living near the airport.",

keywords = "Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Aircraft, Humans, Mental Health, Middle Aged, Noise, Transportation, Policy",

author = "Liming Li and Ludovico Carrino and Erica Reinhard and Erik Timmermans and Martijn Huisman and Jip Claassens and Jeroen Lakerveld and Mauricio Avendano",

note = "{\textcopyright} Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.",

year = "2021",

month = may,

doi = "10.1136/jech-2020-214264",

language = "English",

volume = "75",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Aircraft noise control policy and mental health

T2 - a natural experiment based on the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA)

AU - Li, Liming

AU - Carrino, Ludovico

AU - Reinhard, Erica

AU - Timmermans, Erik

AU - Huisman, Martijn

AU - Claassens, Jip

AU - Lakerveld, Jeroen

AU - Avendano, Mauricio

N1 - © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.

PY - 2021/5

Y1 - 2021/5

N2 - BACKGROUND: This study examines the impact of environmental noise policy on depressive symptoms by exploiting the national experiment afforded by the New Deal aircraft noise control policy introduced in Schiphol (Amsterdam) in 2008.METHODS: Data came from older adults (ages 57-102) participating in three waves (2005/2006, 2008/2009 and 2011/2012) of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA) (N=1746). Aircraft noise data from the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency were linked to LASA cohort addresses using the GeoDMS software. The Centre for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale was used to measure depressive symptoms. Using a difference-in-dfferences (DiD) approach, we compared changes in CES-D levels of depressive symptoms before and after the policy between people living close (≤15 km) and those living far away (>15 km) from Schiphol airport.RESULTS: There were few changes in noise levels after the introduction of the policy. Estimates suggested that the policy did not lead to a reduction in noise levels in the treatment areas relative to the control areas (DiD estimate=0.916 dB(A), SE=0.345), and it had no significant impact on levels of depressive symptoms (DiD estimate=0.044, SE=0.704). Results were robust to applying different distance thresholds.CONCLUSION: The New Deal aircraft noise control policy introduced in Amsterdam was not effective in reducing aircraft noise levels and had no impact on depressive symptoms in older people. Our results raise questions about the effectiveness of the current noise control policy to improve the well-being of residents living near the airport.

AB - BACKGROUND: This study examines the impact of environmental noise policy on depressive symptoms by exploiting the national experiment afforded by the New Deal aircraft noise control policy introduced in Schiphol (Amsterdam) in 2008.METHODS: Data came from older adults (ages 57-102) participating in three waves (2005/2006, 2008/2009 and 2011/2012) of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA) (N=1746). Aircraft noise data from the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency were linked to LASA cohort addresses using the GeoDMS software. The Centre for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale was used to measure depressive symptoms. Using a difference-in-dfferences (DiD) approach, we compared changes in CES-D levels of depressive symptoms before and after the policy between people living close (≤15 km) and those living far away (>15 km) from Schiphol airport.RESULTS: There were few changes in noise levels after the introduction of the policy. Estimates suggested that the policy did not lead to a reduction in noise levels in the treatment areas relative to the control areas (DiD estimate=0.916 dB(A), SE=0.345), and it had no significant impact on levels of depressive symptoms (DiD estimate=0.044, SE=0.704). Results were robust to applying different distance thresholds.CONCLUSION: The New Deal aircraft noise control policy introduced in Amsterdam was not effective in reducing aircraft noise levels and had no impact on depressive symptoms in older people. Our results raise questions about the effectiveness of the current noise control policy to improve the well-being of residents living near the airport.

KW - Aged

KW - Aged, 80 and over

KW - Aging

KW - Aircraft

KW - Humans

KW - Mental Health

KW - Middle Aged

KW - Noise, Transportation

KW - Policy

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/5ee8edad-63e5-342e-accd-85a28ff2c715/

U2 - 10.1136/jech-2020-214264

DO - 10.1136/jech-2020-214264

M3 - Article

C2 - 33148682

SN - 0143-005X

VL - 75

SP - 458

EP - 463

JO - Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health

JF - Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health

IS - 5

ER -

Aircraft noise control policy and mental health: a natural experiment based on the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA)

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

Persistent URL (handle)

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam

Cite this

Aircraft noise control policy and mental health: a natural experiment based on the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA)

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

Persistent URL (handle)

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Datasets

Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam

Cite this