Effect of simultaneous exposure to occupational noise and cigarette smoke on binaural hearing impairment

• Published in: Noise & health Vol. 12; no. 48; pp. 187 - 190
• Main Authors: Mohammadi, Saber, Mazhari, Mohammad Mahdi, Mehrparvar, Amir Houshang, Attarchi, Mir Saeed
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: India Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd 01-07-2010; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd; Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
• Subjects: Adult; Age Distribution; Case-Control Studies; Chi-Square Distribution; Cigarette smoking; Cross-Sectional Studies; Data collection; Deafness, Noise induced; Health aspects; Hearing loss; Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced - diagnosis; Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced - epidemiology; Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced - etiology; Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced - prevention & control; Hearing protection; Humans; Hypothyroidism; Industry; Iran - epidemiology; Logistic Models; Male; noise; Noise, Occupational - adverse effects; Noise, Occupational - prevention & control; occupational exposure; Occupational Exposure - adverse effects; Occupational Exposure - prevention & control; Occupational Health; Occupational health and safety; Occupational safety; Passive smoking; Risk Factors; Smoking - adverse effects; Smoking - epidemiology; Smoking Prevention; Social classes; Time Factors; Urban Population; United States
• ISSN: 1463-1741; 1998-4030
• DOI: 10.4103/1463-1741.64975

In recent years, it has been postulated that cigarette smoking can aggravate noise-induced hearing loss. In this study, we aimed to assess the effect of concurrent exposure to cigarette smoke and occupational noise on binaural hearing impairment (BHI). In an analytic study on the workers of a large wagon manufacturing company in 2007, 622 male workers (252 smokers and 370 non-smokers, matched for other variables) participated and their BHI was compared. BHI was significantly higher in smokers than in non-smokers (odds ratio= 5.6, P < 0.001, 95% CI =3.4-9.4). Logistic regression confirmed this significant difference as well, and showed a direct relationship between the amount of BHI and pack/years of smoking. Cigarette smoking accompanied by exposure to workplace noise may play a role in causing binaural hearing impairment, so giving up or decreasing the amount of smoking may prevent or at least delay binaural hearing impairment, and eventually reduce its compensation costs.