Living beside an airport could be bad for your health.

New research has found that people who are exposed to high levels of aircraft noise may have an increased risk of developing heart disease.

Previous studies have looked at the potential link between aircraft noise and high blood pressure, but few have looked into any potential link with heart disease.

UK scientists decided to investigate this further. They looked at the possible link between heart disease and stroke and aircraft noise in over 3.5 million residents living near one of the busiest airports in the world - Heathrow.

Levels of aircraft noise were obtained from the UK Civil Aviation Authority. While hospital records were analysed to see rates of stroke and heart disease among people in areas nearby between 2001 and 2005.

The study found an increased risk of heart disease and stroke among people who lived closed to the busy airport. The risk appeared higher among the 2% of the participants who were exposed to the highest levels of aircraft noise.

Other factors which may have affected the results, such as age, smoking, air pollution and road traffic noise, were taken into account.

However, the scientists from Imperial College London said that they were unable to distinguish between the effects of daytime noise and night time noise. As a result, they could not say if the results were due to people having their sleep continually disrupted at night.

"How best to meet commercial aircraft capacity for London and other major cities is a matter of active debate. However, policy decisions need to take account of potential health-related concerns, including possible effects of environmental noise on cardiovascular health," they commented.

Meanwhile, a second study from the US looked at more than six million people aged 65 and older, who lived near 89 airports in 2009. This marks the first study to look at such a large population living near multiple airports.

Scientists from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston wanted to see whether exposure to aircraft noise increased the risk of hospitalisation for heart disease.

They found that areas with 10 decibel higher aircraft noise had a 3.5% higher rate of admission for heart disease. The results stood even when factors such as air pollution and road noise were taken into account.

Overall, those exposd to the highest noise levels - higher than 55 decibels - had the biggest risk of being hospitalised with heart disease.

The scientists said that their findings ‘provide evidence of a statistically significant association between exposure to aircraft noise and cardiovascular health particularly at higher exposure levels'.

Details of these studies were published in the British Medical Journal. In an accompanying editorial, Prof Stephen Stansfeld of Queen Mary University of London, said that these results ‘provide preliminary evidence that aircraft noise exposure is not just a cause of annoyance, sleep disturbance and reduced quality of life, but may also increase morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease'.

"Planners need to take this into account when extending airports in heavily populated areas or planning new airports," he added.

For more information on heart disease, see our Heart Disease Clinic here