NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Exposure of newborns and newborns to tobacco smoke may double their chances of hearing loss compared to children who have never been exposed to tobacco, a Japanese study found.
If you smoke and you are pregnant, you should immediately quit smoking. It harms your child's health, especially your hearing.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A recent study, after researchers examined data from about 51,000 children in the Japanese city of Kobe, found that maternal smoking during pregnancy weakens hearing in newborns.
Overall, about 4 percent of these children were exposed to smoking during pregnancy or after childbirth, while about 1 percent of them were exposed to tobacco smoke during the two phases.
Hearing tests were conducted on these children when they reached the third and 4.6 per cent were found to have hearing impairment.
The study found that the risk of hearing loss when exposed to tobacco smoke during pregnancy was 68 percent, while the percentage was 30 percent when inhaling tobacco smoke in early childhood.
When children are exposed to tobacco smoke in both stages, the risk of hearing loss is 2.4 times higher than in children who have not been exposed to smoke.
A hearing expert in Italy revealed that patients with the greatest risk of hearing impairment were directly exposed to smoking while they were embryos.
He added that smoking a pregnant woman may harm the development of the fetus's brain and lead to hearing impairment. Tobacco smoke can also cause damage to sensory receptors in the ear that transmit messages to the brain based on the sound vibrations.
Previous studies have suggested that adult smokers are at higher risk for hearing loss than non-smokers, but there has been insufficient information about the impact of fetal and neonatal exposure to tobacco smoke on hearing loss.
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