Alcoholism can lead to deafness in babies

CHENNAI: Doctors in the west have seen it, ENT specialists here are now seeing it. Smoking and drinking during the first trimester of pregnancy, experts say, can cause deafness in children. While smoking prevents the formation of hair cells of the inner ear, the sensory receptor, alcohol prevents growth of auditory part in the brain.
Doctors at a national conference on speaking and hearing here on Saturday said one of the most important causes for deafness in Indian children was consanguineous marriages.“In most parts of the country, particularly the south, cousins marry. This leads to birth defects due to improper changes in the gene,” said ENT surgeon Dr Mohan Kameswaran. Now, a growing number of pregnant women smoke and drink and they face the risk of a series of defects, including deafness in the fetus. “It is not as big a problem as it is in the west, but we are seeing it among the higher socio-economic groups here,” he said.
Doctors at the Chennai-based TTK hospital said consumption of alcohol among women was on the rise. Dr Thirumagal, programme coordinator, TTK Hospital, said the problem was increasing in every segment of society. But fewer women seek treatment for alcoholism. On an average, he said, his rehabilitation centre got at least 12 women a year.
The problem with women not getting treated for alcoholism is they can’t stop drinking even during pregnancy. “There are two kinds of women who drink, those who drink socially and those for whom it is a habit, though they cannot be called alcoholics. We limit them to one glass of wine a week, but some don’t follow it,” said gynaecologist Dr Jayashree Gajaraj, who consults at Fortis Malar.
In countries like the US, doctors advise women to keep off alcohol completely during pregnany or ask them stop drinking at least between the 4th and the 8th weeks of pregnancy. During this time, the embryo is rapidly dividing. The critical structure of the brain and cranial features form during the first few weeks, said Bharti Katbamna, professor of Speech Pathology and Audiology at Western Michigan University. “If this happens, the child is born with partial or complete deafness. Worse, these damages are irreversible,” she said.
Children of alcoholics have abnormality in brain waves when exposed to sound. “Studies have shown this. In the US, before discharging a newborn they play a sound for the baby and monitor the brain waves to check how it responds. If brain waves are too marginal or absent, it means the child cannot hear the sound,” she said.
Besides deafness, a baby born to an alcoholic mother can have learning disabilities and may not have the hand-eye co-ordination. “Alcohol can affect or shut down a gene which has a cascading effect on all the genes. So, even if the frontal brain is affected, it could lead to a series of complications, including deafness and blindness,” said Katbamna.