Abstract
In order to determine whether chronic exposure to loud noise has demonstrable biological effects on humans, a study was conducted on the effect of mother's exposure to airport noise while pregnant upon birthweight and gestation lenght. In a first step birthweights of children were collected in 12 towns in the Paris area: a sample of 636 subjects from the Orly area (4 towns), another of 1432 subjects from the Roissy area (4 towns) and a reference sample of 1224 subjects from an area not submitted to the aircraft noise (4 towns).
The analysis of weights in the three areas shows a significantly higher birthweight for the boys born in the non submitted aircraft noise area, meanweight: 3433.92 g, by comparison with Orly area, 3356.24 g, and Roissy area, 3355.95 g. The mean birthweights of girls of Orly, Roissy and reference samples were respectively: 3231.43 g, 3202.83 g and 3268.24 g. There is a significant difference only between the Roissy and reference samples.
The second step of this study, actually in progress, concerns the analysis of the possible influence of other factors: mother's age, primiparity, gestational age, and so on. These factors could be combined or not.
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