Research

Smoking associated with common adult acne type
In a recent study, researchers found a link between smoking and comedonal postadolescent acne (CPAA), the most common type of acne seen in adult women. The researchers examined 226 women aged 20-50 years with acne to determine the age of onset and the number, type, and distribution of acne lesions. Eighty-five percent of the women had CPAA acne, and the remainder had papulopustular postadolescent acne. Women with CPAA were significantly more likely to be smokers than the women with papulopustular postadolescent acne. Among the women with CPAA, 72.9% were smokers, while only 29.4% of women with papulopustular postadolescent acne were smokers. The researchers note that other risk factors for acne, such as stress and diet, need to be taken into account in future research, and larger studies are needed before these findings can be generalized to the entire population. Click here to read more, or click here to access the abstract of the article in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Half a pack of cigarettes a day more than doubles DNA breaks in circulating leukocytes
While there is a great deal of evidence on the ill effects of smoking, the mechanism of development is not known for all diseases. In a recent study, researchers examined one possible mechanism, oxidative stress, which leads to changes in cells, including damage to DNA. To determine whether smokers have more breaks in their DNA, the researchers compared the white blood cells of ten healthy smokers to those of a control group of ten age and sex-matched nonsmokers. Individual cell damage was quantified by two measures of DNA degradation. By both measures, the smokers had significantly more breaks in their DNA than the nonsmokers. One possible mechanism for the breaks in the smokers' DNA is oxidative stress. Click here to read the article in Tobacco Induced Diseases.

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