Impact of smoking and tobacco addiction on sensorineural hearing loss among normal healthy participants: A cross-sectional cohort study

Balaji Sekher, Vikas Sinha, Sushil G Jha

Indian Journal of Otology 2017 23(3):151-154

Background: Cigarette smoking and tobacco addiction is one of the major health issues worldwide. Tobacco addiction is generally related to health issues such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart disease hypertension. It is also said that tobacco addiction causes sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). Aim and Objective: The aim of this study was to show direct correlation between tobacco addiction and SNHL. Materials and Methods: In our study, sixty participants who are addicted to tobacco products at least minimum of 20 years were taken as subjects and matched with age-specific controls who do not have any tobacco addiction. They were asked to undergo basic history taking session, otoscopy, and pure tone audiometry, and results were analyzed. Results: SNHL is more common in tobacco users than the age-specific control group. Conclusion: TObacco addiction (both smoking and tobacco chewing) is associated with increased risk of developing SNHL.

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