The sound of silence... against vascular dysfunction

Thanks to more and more research, the list of possible cardiovascular risk factors is increasing. Environmental stressors-like noise exposure is one of them, that is modifiable providing hope for prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

Molitor et al bring forward convincing evidence, in mice and in a translational cohort, that mechanistically links aircraft noise exposure to a systemic stress response with activation of myeloid cells, promoting adhesion and infiltration into cardiovascular tissue. Additionally pre-existing endothelial dysfunction induced by aircraft noise exposure aggravates ischaemic heart damage post myocardial infarction, driven by pro-inflammatory transcriptional changes in the vasculature. This pro-inflammatory vascular conditioning may also explain the further deterioration of chronic heart failure or acute coronary syndrome in response to environmental noise exposure.

This translational study is an elegant eye-opener for many, including health organizations and legal bodies who can save lives and decrease suffering at a population level.