NOISE MAPPING AND ASSOCIATED ISCHEMIC HEART DISEASE ASSESSMENT IN DELHI USING ArcGIS

Abstract

Noise pollution has been identified as a potent trigger to many diseases throughout the world. The increasing level of noise level exposure can lead to health risks such as cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, increased heart rate, etc. In the present study, noise levels from different locations of Delhi based on land-use patterns have been taken and noise maps are developed using ArcMap 10.8. Based on this noise map, hospital admissions for ischemic heart disease and myocardial infarction are calculated due to noise pollution. The study outcome revealed that in an area of 14-km2 noise levels reached 70 dB, while it was 65-70 dB in the area of 436 km2 , 60-65 dB in 746 km2 area, and less than 60 dB in an area of 294 km2 . The total contribution of noise pollution in hospital admissions for ischemic heart disease is 1640, with 75 occurrences of myocardial infarction, accounting for 3.314 % of all hospital admissions for the disease in the year 2019 for which evaluation is done. According to the Environmental Burden of Disease Methodology, people in Delhi lost 1843 years of healthy life in 2019 due to noise pollution. The number of healthy years lost to myocardial infarction is 333. Noise level variation at different land use zones from one of the EIA report when compared to noise monitored on-site are:- (1) 1.6 dB in the silence zone, (2) 0.61 dB in the commercial zone,(3) 0.47 decibels in the industrial zone, and (4) 5.2 dB in the residential zone.