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Smoking more than 20 cigarettes a day can hurt your vision, says a study co-authored by a Rutgers researcher.
The search appears in the log Psychiatry Research.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that in the US, 34.3 million adults currently smoke cigarettes and that more than 16 million are living with a smoking-related disease, many of which affect the cardiovascular system. .
The study included 71 healthy people who smoked less than 15 cigarettes in their lifetime and 63 people who smoked more than 20 cigarettes a day, were diagnosed with tobacco dependence and had not reported any attempt to Stop smoking. Participants were between 25 and 45 years old and had normal or corrected vision, measured using standard visual acuity charts.
Researchers examined how participants distinguished contrast levels (subtle shading differences) and colors as they sat 59 inches from a 19-inch CRT monitor displaying stimuli, while researchers were simultaneously monitoring both eyes.
The results indicated significant changes in smokers' red-green and blue-yellow color vision, suggesting that the consumption of substances containing neurotoxic substances, such as those of cigarettes, may result in an overall loss of vision in the eyes. colors. They also found that heavy smokers had a reduced ability to distinguish contrasts and colors from nonsmokers.
"Cigarette smoke is made up of many compounds harmful to health, and is linked to a reduction in the thickness of the layers in the brain and to brain damage involving areas such as the frontal lobe, which plays a role in in the voluntary movement and control of thought, and a decrease in activity in the area of the brain that processes the vision, "said co-author Steven Silverstein, director of research at the Behavioral Health Care of the Rutgers University.
"Previous studies had shown that long-term smoking doubled the risk of age-related macular degeneration and constituted a factor of yellowing and inflammation of the lenses." Our results indicate that excessive use of cigarettes or chronic exposure to their compounds affect visual discrimination, support the existence of overall deficits in the visual treatment of tobacco addiction. "
Silverstein explained that while nicotine and smoking have harmful effects on the vascular system, the study suggests that they also damage the blood vessels and neurons of the retina.
Silverstein said the findings also suggest that research on visual impairments of vision therapy in other groups of people, such as schizophrenics who smoke a lot, should consider their smoking rate or independently examine smokers and non-smokers.
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