Researchers at Yonsei University College of Medicine Report New Data on Pterygium (Protective effect of smoking against pterygium development in men:…

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Researchers at Yonsei University College of Medicine Report New Data on Pterygium (Protective effect of smoking against pterygium development in men: a nationwide longitudinal cohort study in South Korea)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- Current study results on Eye Diseases and Conditions - Pterygium have been published. According to news reporting originating in Seoul, South Korea, by VerticalNews journalists, research stated, "The present study aimed to evaluate the association between smoking and incident pterygium in adult Korean men. A retrospective nationwide longitudinal cohort."

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from the Yonsei University College of Medicine, "National Health Insurance database of South Korea. This study included Korean men (age range: 40-79 years) registered in the Korea National Health Insurance Service database from 2002 through 2013. We compared HRs for pterygium between 90 547 current/past and 90 547 never-smokers via 1:1 propensity-matched analysis. Incident cases of pterygium were identified from the database. Pterygium developed in 5389 (6.0%) never-smokers and 3898 (4.3%) past/current smokers (p <0.001). The incidence of pterygium per 1000 person-years in never-smokers and in past/current smokers was 6.5 and 4.7, respectively (age-adjusted HR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.70 to 0.76). This protective effect was more pronounced among current smokers than among past smokers (for current smokers: HR, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.65 to 0.71 and for past smokers: HR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.80 to 0.90). A longer duration of smoking and higher amounts of cigarette consumption were associated with a lower incidence of pterygium."

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: "Longitudinally, cigarette smoking was associated with a reduced risk of pterygium, and this protective effect was more pronounced among current smokers than among past smokers."

For more information on this research see: Protective effect of smoking against pterygium development in men: a nationwide longitudinal cohort study in South Korea. Bmj Open, 2017;7(11):e017014. (BMJ Publishing Group - group.bmj.com/; Bmj Open - bmjopen.bmj.com/)

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting T.H. Rim, Dept. of Ophthalmology, Severance Hospital, Institute of Vision Research, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea. Additional authors for this research include D.W. Kim, C.Y. Cheng and S.S Kim.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-017014. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Keywords for this news article include: Asia, Seoul, Pterygium, South Korea, Health Insurance, Insurance Companies, Eye Diseases and Conditions, Conjunctival Diseases and Conditions.