Abstract
Significant health effects have been associated with traffic-related air and noise pollution in urban areas. The primary aim of this cross sectional study was to assess the use of the Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF36), within a larger health questionnaire, as a tool for measuring residents' health and wellbeing in relation to commercial traffic density in Brisbane. Three levels of exposure were compared: i) low overall traffic density - control site, ii) high overall traffic density - with a low proportion of commercial vehicles, iii) high overall traffic density - with a high proportion of commercial vehicles. A total of 368 roadside residential houses were approached with 148 adult residents completing the health survey. When compared to residents in the 'low' traffic site, residents in the 'high' commercial traffic site were approximately three times more likely to have SF36 scores below the Australian norms for the scales of mental health and bodily pain, and two and a half times more likely for the social functioning scale, after adjusting for age, gender, income and smoking. Despite the limitations of the present study, it provides sufficient evidence to warrant the inclusion of the SF36 in future studies attempting to elucidate the nature of the health effects associated with traffic related pollution.