Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Now I've Heard it All: Noise Can Affect Your Heart?

It seems the World Health Organization (WHO) thinks so:
But what's amazing is how they came to this conclusion:
Man, this is worse than smoking, or hypertension, or hypercholesterolemia! Imagine all those poor new mothers with crying babies at risk of sudden death! Or worse still, construction workers should have prophylactic defibrillators implanted before using that jackhammer! Quick everyone, don your ear plugs. It might just save your life!

And if it doesn't, well at least you won't have to listen to this report...

But to be fair, there have been reports of sudden death in patients with Long QT syndrome who are startled by a sudden loud noise such as an alarm clock. And noise does increase adrenaline levels. But is noise alone the CAUSE of all of these cardiovascular deaths in Britain when NO other confounding variables have been controlled?

What gets into these guys?



New Scientist's "Special Report".

World Health Organization's Noise Web Page.

1 comment:

RoseAG said...

When we visited Gettysburg the guide talked about how they found shooters in the hills and ravines who were dead with no apparent injuries.

They thought maybe the sound from the rounds had shocked them and caused their deaths.