Tobacco smoking contributes little to facial wrinkling

Background The potential detrimental effects of tobacco smoking have been w idely cited. Tobacco smoking has been linked with facial wrinkling, but som e previous studies have failed to take into account a number of potential c onfounders or were unblinded and thus subjective to bias. Objective This study was designed to determine if there was increased facia l wrinkling in smokers directly associated with tobacco usage after control ling for solar risk behavior. Subjects Eighty-two smokers (>10 cigarettes p er day) and 118 non-smokers (<100 lifetime cigarettes) were recruited. Cauc asian participants completed a questionnaire designed to assess demographic variables and other suspected factors related to wrinkling. Methods Three dermatologists, blinded to demographic information, reviewed three photographs of each subject and rated the wrinkling on a 100 mm visua l analog scale. Stepwise linear regression was performed on all variables w hich attained a P < 0.1 level of independent significance. Results Overall the model accounted for 75.4% (P = 0.0001) of the variance in wrinkling, and predictive variables (P less than or equal to 0.02) inclu ded age (partial R-2 = 0.69), smoking pack years (R-2 = 0.04), hours Of out door work (R-2 = 0.008), freckling (R-2 = 0.007), and eye color (R-2 = 0.00 4). A second model was created excluding age which accounted for 37.8% of t he variance. The predictive variables in the second model (P < 0.08) includ ed education (partial R2 = 0.08), smoking pack years (R-2 = 0.05), hours of outdoor work (R-2 = 0.03), weight change (R-2 = 0.02), female sex (R2 = 0. 02), hours of lifetime sun (R-2 = 0.03), tanning bed use (R-2 = 0.01), and sunscreen use (R-2 = 0.02). Conclusions Smoking may significantly contribute to facial wrinkling, but a ccounts for only 6% of the explained variance. If there is a role for tobac co smoking in causing wrinkling, this role is a minor one. (C) 1999 Elsevie r Science B.V. All rights reserved.