HEARING LOSS
CIGARETTE SMOKING AND HEARING LOSS
A population-based, cross-sectional study was carried out
to evaluate the association between smoking and hearing
loss. Hearing loss was defined as a pure-tone average (0.5,
1, 2, and 4 kHz) greater than 25-dB hearing level in the
worse ear. After adjusting for other factors, current smokers
were 1.69 times as likely to have a hearing loss as non-smokers.
This relationship remained for those without a history of
occupational noise exposure and in analyses excluding those
with non-age-related hearing loss. There was weak evidence
of a dose-response effect. Non-smoking participants who
lived with a smoker were more likely to have a hearing loss
than those who were not exposed to a household member who
smoked (odds ratio, 1.94).
Cruickshanks, K.J. et al
J.A.M.A. 1998, 279(21) 1715-19
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