TY - JOUR
T1 - Road traffic noise exposure and blood DNA methylation at birth and in childhood
T2 - An epigenome-wide meta-analysis
AU - Yu, Zhebin
AU - Fontes Marques, Irene
AU - Kebede Merid, Simon
AU - Burrows, Kimberley
AU - Soares, Ana Goncalves
AU - Pyko, Andrei
AU - Ögren, Mikael
AU - Pershagen, Göran
AU - Lepeule, Johanna
AU - Hjertager Krog, Norun
AU - Aasvang, Gunn Marit
AU - Kusters, Michelle S.W.
AU - Foraster, Maria
AU - Bustamante, Mariona
AU - Leskien, Miriam
AU - Thiering, Elisabeth
AU - Elhakeem, Ahmed
AU - Peters, Annette
AU - Koppelman, Gerard H.
AU - Gehring, Ulrike
AU - Vonk, Judith M.
AU - Jeong, Ayoung
AU - Imboden, Medea
AU - Probst-Hensch, Nicole
AU - Vermeulen, Roel
AU - Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark
AU - Guxens, Mònica
AU - Standl, Marie
AU - Jaddoe, Vincent W.J.
AU - London, Stephanie J.
AU - Melén, Erik
AU - Felix, Janine F.
AU - Gruzieva, Olena
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Authors.
PY - 2026/1
Y1 - 2026/1
N2 - Road traffic noise exposure has been associated with multiple adverse outcomes in epidemiological studies. However, the underlying biological mechanisms remain unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between road traffic noise exposure and cord blood and child blood DNA methylation (DNAm). Data from six European studies (BAMSE, Generation R, HELIX, INMA, LISA, PIAMA) were used to perform the discovery epigenome-wide meta -analysis. Prenatal, infancy, and recent road traffic noise exposure was assessed at the residential addresses. Blood DNAm was measured using the Illumina 450 K or EPIC arrays. To identify differentially methylated positions (DMPs), we fitted robust linear regression models for each cohort, and the results were subsequently meta -analyzed. Differentially methylated regions (DMRs) were identified using Comb-p and DMRcate. Findings were then looked-up in the independent ALSPAC cohort, in which noise was measured categorically. A total of 1477 newborns with DNAm data in cord blood, and 1129 and 2065 with DNAm in child blood (age 4–6 and age 8–10 years, respectively) were included in the discovery meta -analysis. We did not observe genome-wide significant (False Discovery Rate (FDR) < 0.05) DMPs associated with road traffic noise exposure. However, 46 DMPs reached suggestive significance (P < 1 × 10–5) across different time windows. One CpG site (cg09400092, annotated to SSTR1 ) associated with recent noise exposure at age 8–10 years was also significantly associated in the ALSPAC cohort (same direction of association with P = 0.00165). In addition, we identified a total of 93 FDR significant DMRs, of which 14 were nominally significant in the ALSPAC study. In conclusion, we observed suggestive evidence of an association between road traffic noise exposure and DNAm in child blood. This may indicate that differential DNAm plays a role in the biological mechanism underlying health effects of noise exposure.
AB - Road traffic noise exposure has been associated with multiple adverse outcomes in epidemiological studies. However, the underlying biological mechanisms remain unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between road traffic noise exposure and cord blood and child blood DNA methylation (DNAm). Data from six European studies (BAMSE, Generation R, HELIX, INMA, LISA, PIAMA) were used to perform the discovery epigenome-wide meta -analysis. Prenatal, infancy, and recent road traffic noise exposure was assessed at the residential addresses. Blood DNAm was measured using the Illumina 450 K or EPIC arrays. To identify differentially methylated positions (DMPs), we fitted robust linear regression models for each cohort, and the results were subsequently meta -analyzed. Differentially methylated regions (DMRs) were identified using Comb-p and DMRcate. Findings were then looked-up in the independent ALSPAC cohort, in which noise was measured categorically. A total of 1477 newborns with DNAm data in cord blood, and 1129 and 2065 with DNAm in child blood (age 4–6 and age 8–10 years, respectively) were included in the discovery meta -analysis. We did not observe genome-wide significant (False Discovery Rate (FDR) < 0.05) DMPs associated with road traffic noise exposure. However, 46 DMPs reached suggestive significance (P < 1 × 10–5) across different time windows. One CpG site (cg09400092, annotated to SSTR1 ) associated with recent noise exposure at age 8–10 years was also significantly associated in the ALSPAC cohort (same direction of association with P = 0.00165). In addition, we identified a total of 93 FDR significant DMRs, of which 14 were nominally significant in the ALSPAC study. In conclusion, we observed suggestive evidence of an association between road traffic noise exposure and DNAm in child blood. This may indicate that differential DNAm plays a role in the biological mechanism underlying health effects of noise exposure.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105023957799
U2 - 10.1016/j.envint.2025.109976
DO - 10.1016/j.envint.2025.109976
M3 - Article
C2 - 41352164
AN - SCOPUS:105023957799
SN - 0160-4120
VL - 207
JO - Environment international
JF - Environment international
M1 - 109976
ER -