Noisy neighbourhoods’ threat to unborn babies

LIVING in a noisy area may raise women’s risk of high blood pressure in pregnancy (pre-eclampsia), which can harm mother and baby.

A Canadian study looked at more than 260,000 births and analysed noise pollution data for the mothers’ postcodes. The results, published in the journal Environmental Pollution, showed that the higher the noise levels, the greater the risk of pre-eclampsia, which affects one pregnancy in six in the UK.

One theory is that traffic noise may increase stress levels and cause inflammation, which leads to rising blood pressure.