Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Tobacco stain on fingers is frequent. However, there is scarce description of this clinical sign. We aimed to explore tobacco stain on fingers as a marker of tobacco-related disease independent of cumulative tobacco exposure, and to find behavioural and environmental characteristics associated with those stains.
Documented smoking-related carcinoma, ischaemic heart disease, peripheral arterial disease, stroke and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD , also determined by lung function, were compared between groups. Association between harmful alcohol use, mental disorders or unemployment and tar-staining was adjusted for smoking behaviour through conditional logistic regression.
Smoking-related carcinoma, ischaemic heart disease, stroke and COPD were not statistically different for control smokers. Harmful alcohol use was strongly associated with stains and this association persists after adjustment for smoking unfiltered cigarettes, smoking more than one pack of cigarettes in a day and age at smoking onset adjusted OR 4.
Mental disorders and unemployment were not statistically significant. Patients with tobacco-tar-stained fingers frequently have cigarette-related disease, however statistically not more than control smokers matched for PY, except for symptomatic peripheral arterial disease. This study suggests a link between stained fingers and addictive behaviour or concomitant high alcohol consumption. This caseβcontrol study explores an easily identifiable and frequent clinical sign among smokers and appreciates the additional risk for health due to tar deposition influenced by puffing or cigarette characteristics not included in the usual measure of tobacco exposure pack-year.
Diagnoses were obtained from medical records or from patients self-reporting, subject to recall bias. The yellow finger stain is an emblem of deeper degradation and enslavement than the ball and chain. Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death around the world. The WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic predicted that if current trends persist, more than eight million people worldwide will die from tobacco-related disease each year by The latter is seen after an acute illness that causes cessation of cigarette consumption resulting in a bicolour nail the distal end is cigarette stained, contrasting the newly growing proximal part.
