Exposure to cigarette smoke during pregnancy is related to hearing loss in infants

Children exposed to tobacco smoke in the womb and in their first days were twice as likely to lose their sense of hearing compared to children not exposed to tobacco smoke, as a study at Japan

Although previous studies have shown that adult smokers are at greater risk of losing their hearing than those who do not smoke, little is known about the risk of exposure to second-hand smoke among smokers. infants or fetuses. The researchers tested data on 50,734 children born between 2004 and 2010 in the city of Kobe, Japan. Overall, about 4% of these children are exposed to second-hand smoke during their pregnancy or when they are babies, and about 1% of the population is exposed to second-hand smoke.

Hearing tests performed during childhood The 3-year-old child found that 4.6% of children had lost the sense of hearing. Their chances of having a hearing loss are 68% greater if they are exposed to tobacco smoke when their mother is pregnant, and 30% more likely if they become pbadive smokers when they are babies, according to the 39; study.

children were exposed to second-hand smoke during both periods, 2.4 times more likely to lose their hearing sensitivity than children not exposed to second-hand smoke

"Patients most at risk of hearing loss are those exposed to second-hand smoke they are in pregnancy, "said Dr." Interestingly, exposure to second-hand smoke seems to amplify adverse effects before birth, "says Pezzoli, who was not part of the company.

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When pregnant women smoke, they may inhibit the development of the fetal brain and cause sensory dysfunction of cognitive hearing, said Mr. Pezzoli: Smoking can also damage the ear receptors that transmit messages to the brain as a function of vibration.

Globally, some 68 million people suffer from It was a loss of function and would have started since their childhood, said Koji Kawakami of Kyoto University. in the journal Pediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology. Kawakami did not respond to the request to comment

Researchers examine the meaning of hearing children by putting up what is called a whispering test. For the purpose of this test, their mothers stand in front of these children to prevent these children from reading the movements of their mother's lips. Then his mother whispered a word while one of the children's ears was closing.

Although this test is fairly simple and considered to be a precise way of badessing the hearing capacity of adults and older children, there is concern about the reliability of results in young children. This test is considered more reliable when done by trained practitioners and specialized clinics and considered less reliable when done by caregivers, the researchers said. According to the researchers, the accuracy of the results of these studies on the various tests carried out by the parents of the children remains uncertain.

This study is also not a controlled experiment aimed at proving whether and how to exhibit tobacco exposure during pregnancy. or the infant directly causing damage to the child's hearing faculties.

"There has been no standard medical badessment of hearing or ear tests by ear specialists," said Dr. Michael Weitzman, pediatrician and hearing implant researcher at the University of New York who did not participate in the study

Without follow-up

"In addition, the severity of the loss of 39; hearing is not This study does not study the development of children during childhood, we do not know yet whether there is an improvement in the senses of the hearing of the child after the study or even if it worsens with time. "Weitzman Nevertheless, the results of this study add to the evidence linking the tobacco exposure to the problems hearing in children, said Weitzman

to protect children from the problem of hearing impairment due to exposure to second-hand smoke, women with these be smoking immediately after pregnancy or as soon as they are aware of their pregnancy, says Huanhuan Hu, a researcher from the National Center for Global Health and Medicine in Japan who was not part of the study .

"To minimize the risk of fetal exposure to cigarette smoke in the uterus, other family members should quit smoking at home or near pregnant women," Hu said. by email. [ww]