Exposure to tobacco smoke while in the womb can lead to diminished hearing by adolescence, doctors have found in the first study ever to link tobacco use and hearing impairment.
The new research suggests that compounds contained in tobacco smoke cross the placenta and exert harmful effects on the auditory system.
The analysis, conducted by Drs. Michael Weitzman and Anil Lalwani of New York University-Langone School of Medicine in Manhattan, focused on both maternal smoking and tobacco use by other household members.
"This is the first time (we have) produced evidence that the ability to hear can be affected by smoke," Weitzman said.
"I think some people would say this adds to the litany of horrible consequences of an epidemic involving a man-made product that began causing serious health effects 110 years ago with the massive sale of tobacco products," he said. In the past, doctors have linked low birth weight, asthma, sudden infant death syndrome and recurrent ear infections to both maternal smoking and exposure of the mother to secondhand smoke while pregnant.
The study was published in the journal Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery
Weitzman noted that even though his research was not designed to pinpoint a mechanism by which tobacco smoke damages the ability to hear, it is possible that tobacco's byproducts can injure the developing ear in numerous ways.
"It is possible that (hearing loss) might occur because of decreased blood flow and decreased oxygenation, or higher carbon monoxide levels," he said.
Weitzman, a professor of pediatrics and environmental medicine, studied the medical records of 964 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15, who had participated in the federal government's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey during 2005-2006.
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