Acne and smoking: is there a relationship?
BACKGROUND
There are contradictory reports on the relationship between acne vulgaris and cigarette smoking. The objective of this study was to examine the relation between acne and cigarette smoking in a case-control study.


METHODS
A questionnaire on smoking habits was offered to 350 patients with acne vulgaris and 350 patients suffering from skin diseases other than acne, aged 15-40 years, attending in a skin clinic in Tehran, Iran. The patients completed the questionnaires anonymously in the waiting room.


RESULTS
Two hundred and ninety-three patients with acne (response rate 83.7 %) and 301 patients with other skin diseases (response rate 86.0 %) completed the questionnaires. Twelve acne patients (4.1 %) and 27 control patients (9.0 %) were current smokers (odds ratio = 0.43, 95% confidence limits 0.22 - 0.87, p < 0.05). But after adjustment for sex, this difference was not significant (odds ratio: 0.61, 95% CI: 0.30-1.26, p > 0.05, Mantel-Haenszel test).


CONCLUSIONS
An association between acne and cigarette smoking was not found in this study.
Firooz
Alireza
A
Center for Research & Training in Skin Diseases & Leprosy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, 79 Taleghani Avenue, Tehran, Iran. firozali@sina.tums.ac.ir
Sarhangnejad
Reza
R
Davoudi
Seyyed Massoud
SM
Nassiri-Kashani
Mansour
M
D000152:Acne Vulgaris / Q000209:etiology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires