Work noise annoyance and blood pressure: combined effects with stressful working conditions

In a community-based cross-sectional study (n = 174, 68% participation), we examined the effect on blood pressure of occupational noise annoyance and its combined effect with social support at work, nightshift work, and work satisfaction. In a multivariate analysis the effect of noise annoyance alone (mean difference, 95% CI) was 2.1 (-3.0, 7.3) mmHg for systolic and 3.5 (0.3, 7.4) mmHg for diastolic blood pressure (n = 44). The combined effect with low work satisfaction was 7.5 (0.0, 15.0) mmHg systolic and 6.3 (0.6, 12.4) mmHg diastolic (n = 18). With nightshift work the effect was 5.0 (-2.4, 12.4) mmHg on systolic and 8.1 (2.5, 13.7) mmHg on diastolic blood pressure (n = 15). The findings for social support were inconsistent. The results suggest that analysis of main effects only may underestimate the true public health impact and underline the necessity of searching for combined effects of environmental stressors.