Umbrella+ review on interventions to reduce risks and impacts on health of children and adolescents in Europe from environmental noise

The health burden from environmental noise underscores the need for interventions to reduce exposure and protect children and adolescents. This Umbrella+ review aims to present the latest knowledge on interventions minimizing the health impacts of environmental noise in this demographic. Initially, we conducted a scoping review anchored in the WHO's systematic review on transportation noise interventions and their impacts on health. The subsequent Umbrella+ review prioritizes recent high-quality systematic reviews and includes new, high-quality original studies from Europe published after 2014 to complement identified reviews. Study eligibility follows a PICOS (Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcome, and Study) approach, focusing on interventions targeting children and adolescents up to age 18. We also consider broader population interventions and their potential effects on children. We consider intervention studies addressing noise exposure from road, rail, and aircraft. Potential health outcomes identified from the scoping process include changes in noise exposure and health outcomes, such as annoyance, sleep disturbance, cardiovascular disease, cognitive development, and birth outcomes. This Umbrella+ review is poised to contribute to the 2024 European Topic Centre on Human Health and the Environment report, offering insights to guide action plans, policies, and legislation related to noise intervention for the health of children and adolescents.