A new study has found that living under a flight path increases the risk of having a heart attack. The Swiss study discovered that people exposed to a daily average noise levels of at least 60 decibels are 30% more at risk of dying of a heart attack than those exposed to less that 45 decibels. Among those exposed to the higher decibel levels for 15 or more years, the risk was 50 per cent higher. Up to 200,000 people under the Heathrow flight paths experience noise averaging out at over 60 decibels.To read more about the report: Living under a flight path ‘can increase your risk of heart attack .

The report, ‘Aircraft Noise, Air Pollution, and Mortality from Myocardial Infarction’ can be read in Epidemiology, November 2010, Volume 21, Issue 6, pp 829-836. doi:10.1097/EDE.0b013e3181f4e634

But this study has potentially far reaching implications. Many homes are close to roads and railway lines with 60dB noise contours. More often than not poorer people live along such noise corridors. Perhaps this research will start to explain why poorer people more heart attacks and other illness.