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Abstract:
The adverse effects of the environment on health are increasingly recognized. The WHO estimates that noise accounts for 1 million annually lost healthy life years in Western Europe due to increased incidence of hypertension, heart failure, myocardial infarction, and stroke. An even more severe health impact was reported for air pollution (e.g., PM2.5) accounting for up to 800,000 annual excess deaths in Europe. Adverse effects of air pollution are mechanistically better characterized, but there is still a great need to understand the pathophysiology of air pollution-induced cardiovascular disease, especially the potential synergistic effects together with noise. With the present book chapter, we discuss the most recent data on noise/ air pollution-induced stress responses that increase blood pressure, heart rate, stress hormone levels, and oxidative stress leading to vascular dysfunction and worsening of cardiovascular prognosis. The impact of these environmental risk factors on redox signaling and oxidative stress is discussed in detail.
