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Smokers More Likely to Develop Allergy to
Earrings
By Alan Mozes
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Smoking may
increase the risk of developing allergies to a wide variety of
materials, including metal found in earrings and in the buttons of
blue jeans, a group of Danish researchers has found.
In the study of more than 1,000 men and women ages 15 to 69, such
allergies were more common in people who smoked or used to smoke,
according to a report in the May issue of the Journal of Allergy and
Clinical Immunology.
So-called contact allergies are reactions -- such as red itchy
skin -- that occur in response to touching a particular substance.
Dr. Allan Linneberg at Glostrup University Hospital in Copenhagen
found that contact allergies to nickel -- which is found in earrings
and in the buttons to blue jeans -- were more common among smokers.
Although allergies to nickel sometimes develop in people who wear
earrings, smokers had an increased risk of nickel allergy whether or
not they wore earrings.
"I think it is safe to say that this study points out yet one
more reason for people not to start smoking, and if they smoke, to
quit," said Dr. Kathleen A. Sheerin of the Atlanta Allergy and
Asthma Clinic in Georgia, who was not involved with the study. She
is the vice chair of the public education committee of the
Milwaukee-based American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.
Sheerin told Reuters Health that as this appears to be the first
study of its kind to explore the relationship between smoking and
contact allergy, more research will be needed to understand the
reason for the connection.
The researchers note that they do not yet know exactly how
smoking might lead to the apparent elevated allergy risk.
If future research supports the link between smoking and an
increased allergy risk, smokers might find that kicking the habit
may prevent some cases of allergies, according to the report.
SOURCE: Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
2003;111:980-984.
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