Environmental Exposures to Lead, Mercury, and Cadmium and Hearing Loss in Adults and Adolescents: KNHANES 2010–2012

Details

• Personal Author:
  Choi Y-H ; Park SK
• Description:
  Background: The prevalence of hearing loss increases rapidly with aging. Hearing loss is common in all age groups, even in young adults and adolescents. A growing body of evidence has suggested that heavy metals have ototoxic effects, yet few epidemiological studies have investigated the association between heavy metals and hearing loss in a general population that includes adults and adolescents. Objectives: We examined the association between environmental exposures to lead, mercury, and cadmium and the risk of hearing loss in adults and adolescents while controlling for potential confounding factors, including noise exposures and clinical factors. Methods: We analyzed cross-sectional data from 5,187 adults and 853 adolescents in the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2010-2012. Pure-tone average (PTA) of hearing thresholds at high frequency (3, 4, and 6 kHz) were computed, and hearing loss was defined as a PTA>25 dB in adults and PTA>15 dB in adolescents. Results: In adults, the highest (vs. lowest) quartiles of blood lead and cadmium were associated with 1.70 (95% CI: 1.25, 2.31) and 1.47 (95% CI: 1.05, 2.05) odds ratios for high-frequency hearing loss (p-trend<0.001and=0.007), respectively. In adolescents, the highest quartile (vs. lowest) of blood cadmium had an odds ratio of 3.03 (95% CI: 1.44, 6.40) for high-frequency hearing loss (p-trend=0.003), but blood lead was not associated with hearing loss. No significant association between blood mercury and hearing loss was suggested in either adults or adolescents. Conclusions: The results of the present study suggest that exposure to environmental lead and cadmium in adults and exposure to environmental cadmium in adolescents may play a role in the risk of hearing loss. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Adolescent Aging Cadmium Environmental Exposure Epidemiology Hearing Hearing Loss Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced Lead Mercury Metals, Heavy Noise Noise, Occupational Occupational Health Safety

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• Keywords:
  Adolescents Environmental Exposure Hearing Loss Hearing Threshold Heavy Metals Noise Exposure Ototoxicity
• ISSN:
  0091-6765
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Michigan ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  125
• Issue:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20049898
• Citation:
  Environ Health Perspect 2017 Jun; 125(6):067003
• Contact Point Address:
  Yoon-Hyeong Choi, 155 Gaetbeol-ro, Yeonsugu, Incheon, Republic of Korea, 21999
• Email:
  yoonchoi@gachon.ac.kr
• CAS Registry Number:
  Cadmium (CAS RN 7440-43-9) ; Lead (CAS RN 7439-92-1) ; Mercury (CAS RN 7439-97-6)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2017
• Performing Organization:
  University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Environmental Health Perspectives
• End Date:
  20280630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6afcd7748d45700144aab716af1f0bc76df29e5cc3fd125adac225bae72bcdf30d06b9fe2a3b1dfb219b8858e7c4fd80cd164afc8ec8d537c2284bdbf0643069
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/210493/cdc_210493_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 177.50 KB ]