Road Traffic Noise, Obesity, and the Risk of Incident Type 2 Diabetes: A Cohort Study in UK Biobank

Objectives: To assess the association of road traffic noise exposure with Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) risk, and to explore the potential moderation effect of obesity. Methods: A total of 305,969 participants from the UK Biobank Cohort - an open access cohort of 500,000 participants recruited in the United Kingdom (UK) between 2006 and 2010 - were included in the study. A Cox proportional hazard model was fitted to assess the association between road traffic noise exposure and T2D. Results: A total of 19,303 participants were diagnosed with T2D during the 11.9-year median follow-up period. For every 10 dB increase in road traffic noise, there was a 4% increase in T2D risk (HR = 1.04, 95%CI: 1.01, 1.07). Besides, a significant positive interaction was observed between obesity and road traffic noise (P interaction <0.001) for the risk of T2D. The association of road traffic noise with T2D was stronger in overweight and obese participants (HR = 1.04, 95% CI: 1.01–1.08), but not significant among lean ones (HR = 0.96, 95% CI: 0.86–1.07). Conclusion: Our study observed a longitudinal association of road traffic noise exposure with T2D risk, which was stronger among overweight and obese individuals than the lean ones.