Secondhand Smoke is Associated with Hearing Threshold Shifts in Obese Adults

Abstract

Hearing loss resulted from multiple intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Secondhand smoke (SHS) and obesity had been reported to be related to hearing loss. This study explored the possible associations of SHS and obesity with the hearing threshold. The relations between SHS and the hearing threshold in subjects from three different body mass index classes were analyzed. Our study included data from 1,961 subjects aged 20–69 years that were obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for the years 1999–2004. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, the subjects with the higher tertiles of serum cotinine levels tended to have higher hearing thresholds than those with the lowest tertile of serum cotinine levels (for both trends, p < 0.05). Notably, the obese subjects with the higher tertiles of serum cotinine levels had significantly higher hearing thresholds for high frequencies and low frequencies than those with the lowest tertile of serum cotinine levels (for both trends, p < 0.05). Our study showed a significant positive association between SHS exposure and hearing thresholds in the adult population, especially in obese individuals. Based on our findings, avoiding exposure to SHS, especially in obese adults, may decrease the risk of hearing loss.

Hearing threshold levels and hearing loss among people in Zhejiang, China: a population-based cross-sectional study

“…Our results support the evidence that smoking and drinking have associations with the risk of hearing loss 26 27. Cruickshanks et al 28 estimated that current smokers were 1.69 times more likely to have hearing loss than non-smokers (95% CI 1.31 to 2.17), which is similar to the results obtained in our study (1.66-fold, 95% CI 1.24 to 2.22).…”

“…Harmful habits, such as smoking and drinking, and ambient noise (including occupational and recreational noise) are associated with hearing loss. Educating and advising individuals to maintain good general health and fitness would have benefits for hearing preservation 26. Furthermore, we found evidence that among several common chronic diseases, hypertension is the most closely related to hearing loss, which requires special attention to the hearing of patients with hypertension.…”

Air pollution increases the risk of SSNHL: A nested case-control study using meteorological data and national sample cohort data

“…Because cardiovascular diseases are influenced by air pollution, air pollution might have an impact on SSNHL 16 . Furthermore, a number of recent studies demonstrated an association between hearing loss and air pollutants from cigarette smoking 17,18 . Current smokers had 1.15 times higher odds of developing hearing loss than nonsmokers (95% confidence intervals [95% CI = 1.09–1.21]) 18 .…”

Association between smoking and hearing status: a comparative study between smokers and non – smokers

“…Lalwani AK et al gave an interesting observation that hearing loss in adults may commence at an early age and also effects those who are exposed passively to smoking [35]. Age related hearing loss can be attributed to multiple factors like hypoxia, atherosclerosis, oxidative stress, dysfunction of mitochondrion and programmed suicidal death of inner ear cell [36].…”