The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

HEALTH

Smoking can cause deafness
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 17 — Smoking can lead to reduction in hearing ability, besides increasing the chances of deafness at a younger age, according to a study conducted by doctors of the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, PGI.

The study was undertaken to find the effect of moderate and heavy smoking on ear functions by Dr A. Rijuneeta during the year 1998-99 under the supervision of Prof S.B.S. Mann and Dr A.K. Gupta. A total of 45 males in the age group of 25 to 50 years were divided into three groups depending on the smoking index. Smoking index is defined as the number of cigarettes smoked per day multiplied by total duration in a number of years.

While the first group of non-smokers acted as control, the second and third groups were labelled as moderate and heavy smokers, respectively, based on the smoking index. However, persons who were suffering from diseases like diabetes mellitus, renal failure, high blood pressure, anemia, disturbed thyroid function, discharging ears and patients with history of taking drugs like quinine, gentamycin, disprin, anticonvulsion drugs, which have toxic effect on hearing, were excluded from the study.

According to the study, a detailed history of these persons was drawn up before doing the clinical examination of ear, nose and throat. The hearing was tested on the audiometer and when needed specialised tests of hearing were performed to check out whether the hearing loss is in the ear or beyond the ear in the brain. Apart from hearing, ear has another function through which the equilibrium is maintained. This function was tested by putting ice cold water in the ear canals.

The findings revealed that 15 cases of group I had normal hearing. In moderate smokers of group II, bilateral sensori neural deafness of mild to moderate degree was noted in six out of 15 cases (40 per cent). On the other hand, in case of heavy smokers (group III), 12 out of 15 cases ( 80 per cent) had moderate degree of nerve deafness.

According to the inference drawn, nicotine, the major component of cigarettes, is responsible for various side effects. For instance, it produces spasms (narrowing) of blood vessels, thus leading to restricted blood circulation to different systems and organs in the body including ear. It is further pointed out that Nicotine concentration in the blood depends on many factors like duration of smoking, length of cigarette smoked, bud of cigarette discarded, number and type of cigarette smoked i.e filter, non-filter and passive smoking. However, among the Indian population “bidi” smoking is more common. But there is very little difference in the total particulate matter between “bidi” and regular size cigarette without filter. An average cigarette contains 1.5 mg of nicotine, causing nicotine concentration in the blood to reach 130 to 200 nenamol/litre. In case of moderate smokers only nicotine is responsible for side effects whereas in severe smokers both nicotine and carbon monoxide produce toxic effects.

The study further reveals that cigarette smoking is more harmful than bidi/cigar smoking because it is more acidic and it directly gets absorbed through the lungs from where it enters the blood and reaches various organs of the body. It also reduces the lumen of blood vessels because smokers are more predisposed to athrosclerosis because of deposition of cholestrol, fat and acido triglyceroid. Hence, a higher incidence of cardiovascular diseases such as coronary damage and restricted circulation occurs in smokers. It is well documented that the clotting of blood in the vessels called thrombous is three times more frequent in smoker. Thus reduction in circulation is an important factor leading to malnutrition and damage of the specialised hair cells in the ear responsible for acuity of hearing and maintenance of equilibrium.

SPORT

Minor districts cricket meet
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, May 17 — The technical and coaching committee of the Punjab Cricket Association has decided to hold a minor districts cricket tournament to tap talent and provide off- season practice to the players of minor districts.

Thus PCA has made draw for minor districts tournament, starting from May 21, at different headquarters.The winner will take part along with other major district teams in the senior group tournament for the senior inter-district league tournament, beginning in the first week of June.

Around 12 districts will take part. The semi-finals will take place on May 27 and 28 at Hoshiarpur while finals will be held on May 30 and 31 at Patiala. This was stated by Mr MP Pandove, Secretary Punjab Cricket Association.

Carrom tourney: St Stephen’s ranking carrom tournament will begin at St Stephens’ School, Sector 45, tomorrow where nearly 209 players from schools of the city will take part. The sections include men and women, boys and girls, sub-junior boys and subjuniors girls.

Kho-kho body chief: The Chandigarh Kho-kho Association recently elected Mr Harjit Singh its President. In the recent meeting of the association, it was decided to expand kho-kho activities in the city. He hoped that the game has a bright future.

It was also decided to hold UT state sub-junior boys and girls kho- kho meet in September. This would be followed by UT senior kho-kho championship in November.

Taekwondo teams: The Punjab Taekwondo Association selected Punjab junior and sub-junior teams in men and women sections to take part in the National Taekwondo Champion-ship, to be held in Hyderabad from May 26 to 28.

The teams are — sub junior boys — Nitin Parmar, Tarun, Vishwajeet Singh, Vipin Kumar, Vishal Arya, Sumel Singh Brar, Snehdeep Singh, Amrinder Singh, Navpreet and Amit Vohra.

Junior boys: Krishan Kumar, Arvinder, Tamas, Pankaj Dheer, Dinesh Rawat, Devinder Singh and Deepak Singh. Junior girls — Jasminder Kaur Pannu, Nidhi Thind, Rajni Bala, Esha Aggarwal, Namita Sharma, Mania Salwan, Balpreet Kaur and Nishu. This information was provided by Mr Satpal Singh Rehal, Secretary and Technical Director of the association.

Budding cricketer: Eight-year-old Saurabh Chopra, a Class III student of Hansraj Public School, Panchkula aims to represent the country as soon as he can.

The cricket centre at the school was opened by Ajay Jadeja. Young players are practising under the watchful eyes of Sanjay Verma, the coach. Saurabh practises in the mornings and evenings. Sanjay has high hopes from this talented left-hander.

Puncom XI win: Puncom XI, SAS Nagar, outplayed RP Academy XI, Delhi, by two runs in the XVIII All India CDA (Air Force) cricket tournament, being played at Dehradun. As per the information reaching here, Puncom XI made 229 runs for 6 in 40 overs, while RP Academy scored 227 runs in the stipulated 40 overs. Kailash was unbeaten on 76 Munish Arora scored 47 runs, while Mayur Vohra was the highest scorer for the losers with 61 runs.