Door de vliegtuigramp in de Bijlmermeer toename van gerapporteerde hinder van vliegtuiglawaai maar niet van gemeten psychiatrische klachten

To examine the effects of the Amsterdam aircraft disaster on October 4th 1992 on the population in the Southeast (SE) borough hit and in the rest of Amsterdam.

Design

Ongoing health interview survey, before and after the disaster.

Setting

Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Methods

8335 non-institutionalised persons aged 16 years and over were approached. They were drawn randomly from the Amsterdam Municipal Population Register, after stratification for age (16-34, 35-64 and ≥ 65 years) and borough (n = 17). This led to 5092 successful interviews (61.1), of which 1,006 took place before the disaster and 305 in the SE borough. Outcome measures were prevalence of annoyance caused by aircraft noise and of an elevated score on the General Health Questionnaire, 12 item version.

Results

After recommencement of the aircraft crossings (week 3 till 10 after the disaster) 60.0 of the respondents in the SE borough reported annoyance, compared to 36.8 before the disaster (odds ratio (OR): 2.57; 95 confidence interval (CI): 2.63-3.04). In the three subsequent two-month periods these ORs for the SE borough steadily decreased. No significant change was found either for the rest of Amsterdam or for the GHQ measure. Logistic regression modelling showed the increase to be highest immediately after the recommencement of aircraft crossings (OR = 7-50; 95 CI: 2.40-23.4).

Conclusion

The Amsterdam aircraft disaster led to a temporarily heightened sensitivity to noise, but not to more psychiatric disorders (measured by GHQ) among the population of the borough hit. The health interview survey was sensitive for changes in annoyance caused by aircraft noise after a severe incident.