Nocturnal road traffic noise and sleep during mid-adulthood in urban settings: Examining sex and socioeconomic differences within the DAS-EP project.

In urban adults aged 40–60 in Spain, nocturnal road traffic noise (Lnight) shows region- and dimension-specific associations with sleep health, including poorer sleep quality in the Basque Country.

• Why it matters: Sleep tends to worsen from mid-adulthood and may be more affected in women, while nocturnal road traffic noise is a key environmental stressor; evidence on how links vary by context is limited.
• What they did: Using cross-sectional survey data from 2021–2023 (n=1898) in the Basque Autonomous Community, the Valencian Community, and Barcelona, researchers estimated Lnight (23:00–07:00) from official noise maps and modeled associations with sleep duration, satisfaction, and SATED sleep quality using linear models with a DAG-based adjustment set.
• The result: Women reported poorer sleep health than men, and sleep quality increased with area-level household income; noise–sleep associations differed by region, with Barcelona showing a non-significant link to higher sleep satisfaction and the Basque Country showing poorer sleep quality with a similar pooled pattern.

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