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Occupational Medicine Advance Access published online on July 3, 2009
Occupational Medicine, doi:10.1093/occmed/kqp091
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Noise-induced hearing loss in French police officers

François-Xavier Lesage1, Nicolas Jovenin2, Frederic Deschamps1 and Samuel Vincent1

1 UF de Pathologie Professionnelle et Santé au Travail (Occupational Health Department), Hôpital Sébastopol, Reims, France
2 Institut Jean Godinot, Reims, France

Background There is a lack of data about police officers’ hearing thresholds and the risk of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) associated with this occupation. In France, 129 000 national police officers, 96 000 state police force members and 16000 municipal police officers may be affected by occupational noise exposure.

Aims To evaluate the association between police employment and NIHL.

Methods We undertook a cross-sectional study using review of medical records. Audiometric and otological data and information on potential confounders were extracted from medical records. Global hearing loss and selective 4000 Hz hearing loss were analysed.

Results Of total, 1692 subjects (887 policemen and 805 civil servants) participated in the study. After adjusting for potential cofounders, police officers were 1.4 times more likely to have a selective 4000 Hz hearing loss than civil servants (95% CI 1.1–1.9). This difference was greater between motorcycle police officers and civil servants (OR = 3; 95% CI 1.4–6.3).

Conclusions These data suggest that occupational noise exposure in police work, particularly in motorcycle police officers, may induce hearing loss. Noise sources need to be more accurately defined to confirm high-level noise exposures, to better define significant sources of noise and to identify effective solutions.

Keywords      Motorcycle police officers; noise-induced hearing loss; occupational hearing loss; occupational noise exposure; police officers

Correspondence to: François-Xavier LESAGE, UF de Pathologie Professionnelle et Santé au Travail (Occupational Health Department), Hôpital Sébastopol, 48 rue de Sébastopol, 51092 Reims Cedex, France. Tel: +03 26 78 89 33; fax: +03 26 78 43 56; e-mail: fxlesage{at}chu-reims.fr


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