Smoking Habits in Sudden Hearing Loss

Abstract

The most widely accepted theory about the etiology of sudden hearing loss is disturbance of cochlear perfusion. Because of its well-known effects on circulation, smoking could be a risk factor for sudden hearing loss, in the etiology of which disturbance of perfusion has an important role. 66 patients that received hyperbaric oxygen treatment in a private center from 1998 to 2001 in addition to medical treatment (systemic steroids and hemodilution) for sudden hearing loss, were questioned about their age, sex and smoking habits. Patients who never smoked and former smokers were taken to the group of "non-smokers" and the ones who still smoke to "active smokers" group. Age, sex and smoking rates of the men and women from our study group were compared statistically to the values from the Turkish population and smoking habits were investigated as a risk factor for sudden hearing loss. 27 (40.9%) of patients were female, and 39 (59.1%) were male. 9 (33.3%) of females and 22 (56.4%) of males had a positive history of smoking. The total number of smokers was 31 (46.9%) and female/male ratio among smokers was found as 9/22 (29% / 71%). There was no statistically significant difference of age and sex distribution between our group and the Turkish population (p>0.05). There was no significant difference between smoking rates of the males of our group (56.4%) and the males of the Turkish population (60%) (p>0.05). The difference was again not significant between smoking rate of females of our group (33.3%) and that of the Turkish population (20%) (p>0.05). In regard of these findings we concluded that smoking doesn’t constitute a risk factor for sudden hearing loss.

Keywords

• sudden hearing loss
• smoking
• risk factor.