Environmental and medical evaluations were performed to evaluate occupational exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) among casino employees. Air concentrations of both nicotine and respirable dust were similar to those published in the literature for other non-industrial indoor environments. The geometric mean serum cotinine level of the 27 participants who provided serum samples was 1.34 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL) (pre-shift) and 1.85 ng/mL (post-shift). Both measurements greatly exceeded the geometric mean value of 0.65 ng/mL for participants in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) who reported exposure to ETS at work. This evaluation demonstrates that a sample of employees working in a casino gaming area were exposed to ETS at levels greater than those observed in a representative sample of the US population, and that the serum and urine cotinine of these employees increased during the workshift.

Moderate/worse speech frequency and HFHL are associated with depression in women ages 52-69 years, independent of other risk factors. Hearing screenings are likely to reduce delays in diagnosis and provide early opportunities for noise prevention counseling and access to hearing aids. Health professionals should be aware of depressive signs and symptoms in patients with hearing loss.

Hearing loss (HL) is the third most common chronic physical condition in the United States. Obesity has become an increasingly important public health concern, as the prevalence in children, adolescents and adults has increased over the past few decades. The objectives of this study is to investigate whether obesity is associated with audiometric notches indicative of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), speech frequency hearing loss (SFHL), and high frequency hearing loss (HFHL) in adolescent participants of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007–2010. The prevalence of overall audiometric notches in the adolescent population was 16.0% with higher prevalence in females than males. The prevalence of SFHL and HFHL were higher in males than females (SFHL, 7.3% vs. 5.4%, respectively; and HFHL 14.3% vs. 8.1%, respectively). Obese adolescents had a higher adjusted OR to have audiometric notches (OR = 1.93; 95% CI: 1.33–2.81) and HFHL (OR = 1.95; 95% CI: 1.19–3.21). Continued preventative efforts towards reducing obesity might also help to reduce the risk for HL and NIHL.