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Recurrent aphthous stomatitis and smoking
Author(s) -
Tüzün Binnur,
Wolf Ronni,
Tüzün Yalçin,
Serdaroğlu Server
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
international journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.677
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1365-4632
pISSN - 0011-9059
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-4362.2000.00963.x
Subject(s) - medicine , recurrent aphthous stomatitis , stomatitis , dermatology , medline , political science , law
Abstract Background Several studies have reported cigarette smoking to have a beneficial protective effect on recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS). In this study, we evaluated once again the incidence of smoking in RAS patients compared with controls. This study differs from most previous ones in that the patients were diagnosed by direct observation of active lesions by a dermatologist. Methods Thirty‐four patients with RAS who were seen at the dermatology clinic during a period of 2 years were compared with 115 outpatients with other skin diseases and 20 healthy hospital personnel who had no history of aphthae, with regard to their smoking habits. Results Among the 34 patients with RAS, 8.8% were active smokers compared with a significantly higher percentage (25.2%) among the control subjects. Conclusions In agreement with others, we found a negative epidemiologic association between smoking and RAS. This finding can be used to clarify the cause and pathogenesis of the disease, and possibly to identify better treatment or preventive options than those currently available.