Smoking and deaf adults: Associations with age at onset of deafness

Smoking is a major health problem whose prevalence in different populations is thought to be influenced by sociocultural and linguistic factors. Altho ugh smoking and hearing loss are positively correlated, little is known abo ut the smoking habits of deaf populations. Using national survey data, this study determined the smoking prevalence in two socioculturally distinct de af populations, based on age at onset of deafness. The smoking prevalence i n each deaf population was compared to the smoking prevalence in the hearin g population in multivariate analyses that adjusted for sociodemographics a nd health status. The smoking prevalence among postlingually deafened adult s was not significantly different from that among hearing adults. Prelingua lly deafened adults were found to be less Likely to smoke than hearing adul ts, even though they have less education and lower income, factors both ass ociated with higher smoking prevalence in other populations. The lower smok ing prevalence among prelingually deafened adults may be due to cultural di fferences or to limited access to English-language tobacco advertising.