Effect of smoking on the treatment of vertigo

Objective: To study the effect of smoking on patients with vertigo. Setting: University hospital. Patients: Thirty patients with vertigo who smoke and 30 patients with verti go who don't smoke were age-, sex-, and diagnosis-matched and given the sam e medication consecutively for 3 months. Then treatment efficacy was compar ed between two groups to investigate the relationship between smoking and v ertigo. Results: The efficacy of treatment of vertigo in the smoking group (30%) wa s lower than the nonsmoking group (74%). Intractable vertigo is related to smoking behavior but unrelated to either smoking year or tobacco year (expo sure to smoking). Conclusions: For patients with vertigo who smoke during the course of treat ment, the treatment may be ineffective. Therefore, neurotologists should in quire about the smoking history in vertigo patients and advise them to abst ain from smoking.