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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Environmental Health and Exposome
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1410601

Association of Mixed Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Exposure with Hearing Loss and the Mediating Role of Blood Cell Markers of Inflammation in U.S. Adults

Provisionally accepted
Peixuan Shen Peixuan Shen 1Dan Hu Dan Hu 2Meiyue Shen Meiyue Shen 1Tingwei Du Tingwei Du 1Longzhu Zhao Longzhu Zhao 1Miaomiao Han Miaomiao Han 1Ruihan Song Ruihan Song 1Rongrong Guo Rongrong Guo 1Xiaochuan Lu Xiaochuan Lu 1Shengnan Liu Shengnan Liu 1Xiaoli Shen Xiaoli Shen 3*
  • 1 Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong Province, China
  • 2 Qingdao Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Qingdao, Shandong Province, China
  • 3 Qingdao University Medical College, Qingdao, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Studies on the effects of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) on hearing loss (HL) are limited and often focus on individual PAH compounds. The present study aimed to explore the individual and combined effects of PAH exposure on hearing loss, with a focus on the mediating role of inflammatory blood cell markers. This cross-sectional study included 1,409 participants from 4 cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2001-2002, 2003-2004, 2011-2012, and 2015-2016). Seven monohydroxylated PAH metabolites (OH-PAHs) in the urine were measured. Multivariable logistic regression, weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression, and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) were applied to assess both the individual and combined effects of OH-PAHs on hearing loss. Moreover, mediation analysis was employed to examine the mediating role of inflammatory blood cell markers in these associations. Among the 1,409 participants, 59.1% had hearing loss. The WQS model revealed a positive association between PAH mixtures and HL (OR: 1.290; 95% CI: 1.042, 1.597), LFHL (OR: 1.363; 95% CI: 1.130, 1.644), and HFHL (OR: 1.299; 95% CI: 1.022, 1.626). Additionally, the WQS model identified hydroxynaphthalene (1-OHNAP) primarily contributed to HL and LFHL, while 2-hydroxyfluorene (2-OHFLU) was the primary contributor to HFHL. BKMR analysis demonstrated positive associations between PAH mixtures and all three types of hearing loss. Mediation analysis revealed that the association between OH-PAHs and LFHL was mediated by neutrophil (NEU) and basophil (BAS) counts. These results confirmed that exposure to PAH mixtures was positively associated with the odds of hearing loss and that inflammatory blood cell markers mediated this association.

    Keywords: Hearing Loss, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, Inflammation, NHANES, Mixed exposure, Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR)

    Received: 01 Apr 2024; Accepted: 11 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Shen, Hu, Shen, Du, Zhao, Han, Song, Guo, Lu, Liu and Shen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Xiaoli Shen, Qingdao University Medical College, Qingdao, China

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