[Hearing care and quality of life among workers exposed to pesticides].

The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between exposure to pesticides and the occurrence of hearing loss among rural workers of Povoado Colônia Treze, Lagarto, State of Sergipe, Brazil. A total of 351 adult workers aged 18 to 59 years were selected, with current or past work activity in rural areas, with or without use of pesticides. The hearing evaluation included a form to record air-borne tonal thresholds using normality criteria recommended by Merluzzi 1979. The instrument used for assessing the quality of life was the Brazilian version of Short Form 36 (SF-36). Statistical analysis was performed (chi-square c², nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test, Cramer's V and Cohen's d) with a significance level of 95% (p <0.05). The results related the use of pesticide with the degree of toxicity in the presence of hearing loss and indices of quality of life (p <0.001). This study proved that agricultural workers, users of pesticides showed the worst levels of quality of life when compared with those who have not handled them. The use of pesticides and their toxicity class interfered in a most striking way in the classification of hearing loss presented in this group and further studies are recommended to assess other impacts on this population.