Associations between self reported hearing difficulties, tinnitus, smoking, and working in a noisy occupation
| Hearing problem/smoking habits | Years worked in noisy job* | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| None | <1–5 | >5 | |||||||
| No. | No. (%) +ve | PR (95% CI) | No. | No. (%) +ve | PR (95% CI) | No. | No. (%) +ve | PR (95% CI) | |
| *Years in a job where there was a need to shout to be heard. | |||||||||
| †Severe = severe or can’t hear at all in either ear, or wearing of a hearing aid; moderate = moderate difficulty in the worse affected ear (and no use of a hearing aid). | |||||||||
| ‡Persistent = most or all of the time in the past 12 months. | |||||||||
| No. (%) +ve = number and % positive for the hearing outcome. | |||||||||
| The baseline for all risk estimates was subjects who were free of auditory problems. All risks were estimated relative to those of non-smokers who had never worked in a noisy job. All PRs were adjusted for age, sex, and self report of frequent tiredness or stress and frequent headaches. The analysis excludes 50 subjects with severe hearing difficulty, 77 with moderate to severe hearing difficulty, and 49 with tinnitus who failed to provide information on years worked in a noisy job or frequency of tiredness, stress, and headaches. | |||||||||
| Severe hearing difficulty† | |||||||||
| Never smoked | 2698 | 45 (1.7) | 1.0 | 551 | 18 (3.3) | 2.2 (1.3 to 3.7) | 293 | 31 (10.6) | 4.6 (2.9 to 7.1) |
| Formerly smoked | 1109 | 37 (3.3) | 1.4 (0.9 to 2.1) | 362 | 15 (4.1) | 2.0 (1.1 to 3.5) | 256 | 47 (18.4) | 5.9 (3.9 to 8.7) |
| Currently smoking | 915 | 23 (2.5) | 1.3 (0.8 to 2.1) | 338 | 15 (4.4) | 2.4 (1.4 to 4.2) | 208 | 30 (14.4) | 5.8 (3.7 to 8.9) |
| Moderate/severe hearing difficulty† | |||||||||
| Never smoked | 2736 | 83 (3.0) | 1.0 | 573 | 40 (7.0) | 2.4 (1.7 to 3.3) | 341 | 79 (23.2) | 5.0 (3.8 to 6.3) |
| Formerly smoked | 1140 | 68 (6.0) | 1.4 (1.0 to 1.8) | 384 | 37 (9.6) | 2.4 (1.7 to 3.4) | 319 | 110 (34.5) | 5.9 (4.7 to 7.4) |
| Currently smoking | 943 | 51 (5.4) | 1.5 (1.1 to 2.1) | 367 | 44 (12.0) | 3.3 (2.4 to 4.5) | 248 | 70 (28.2) | 5.7 (4.4 to 7.1) |
| Persistent tinnitus‡ | |||||||||
| Never smoked | 2752 | 99 (3.6) | 1.0 | 574 | 41 (7.1) | 1.9 (1.4 to 2.7) | 312 | 50 (16.0) | 3.0 (2.2 to 4.1) |
| Formerly smoked | 1131 | 59 (5.2) | 1.0 (0.7 to 1.4) | 394 | 47 (11.9) | 2.4 (1.7 to 3.3) | 277 | 68 (24.5) | 3.8 (2.8 to 5.0) |
| Currently smoking | 929 | 37 (4.0) | 0.9 (0.6 to 1.3) | 355 | 32 (9.0) | 2.1 (1.4 to 3.0) | 223 | 45 (20.2) | 3.6 (2.5 to 4.9) |