The timeline of blood pressure changes and hemodynamic responses during an experimental noise exposure

Background Noise exposure increases blood pressure and peripheral vascular resistance in both genders in an experimental setting, as previously reported by the authors. Objectives The aim of this re-analysis was to present the minute-by-minute timeline of blood pressure changes and hemodynamic events provoked by traffic noise in the young and healthy adults. Methods The experiment consisted of three 10-min phases: rest in quiet conditions before noise (Leq = 40 dBA), exposure to recorded road-traffic noise (Leq = 89 dBA), and rest in quiet conditions after noise (Leq = 40 dBA). Participants’ blood pressure, heart rate, and hemodynamic parameters (cardiac index and total peripheral resistance index) were concurrently measured with a thoracic bioimpedance device. The raw beat-to-beat data were collected from 112 participants, i.e., 82 women and 30 men, aged 19–32 years. The timeline of events was created by splitting each experimental phase into ten one-minute intervals (30 intervals in total). Four statistical models were fitted to answer the six study questions what is happening from one minute to another during the experiment. Results Blood pressure decreased during quiet phase before noise, increased in the first minute of noise exposure and then decreased gradually toward the end of noise exposure, and continued to decline to baseline values after noise exposure. The cardiac index showed a gradual decrease throughout the experiment, whereas total vascular resistance increased steadily during and after noise exposure. Conclusions The timeline of events in this 30-min experiment provides insight into the hemodynamic processes underlying the changes of blood pressure before, during and after noise exposure.