Wrinkled Middle-Aged Smokers At Higher Risk Of COPD

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If you are middle-aged, have lots of wrinkles and smoke, you are five times more likely to develop CPOD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) than middle-aged smokers who are not very wrinkly, says a study from the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, UK.


You can read the report in the journal Thorax. The scientists said that the heavy lines on a smoker's face could provide a good indication of COPD risk. They studied 149 people and concluded that genetic propensity to wrinkles seems to come with a higher susceptibility of developing COPD.


Millions of people around the world have COPD and have not been diagnosed. It is caused mainly by smoking. WHO predicts it will become the third leading cause of death in the world within the next 14 years.


The study looked at 149 people who smoke, or used to smoke. They were aged 45-70 and all came from the Cambridge, UK, area. 68 of them had COPD. 25 of them had very wrinkly faces, of which 21 had COPD. The researchers found that after taking into account the people's age and how long they had been smokers, those with wrinkly faces had five times the probability of having COPD compared to smokers who did not have wrinkly faces. Severe emphysema was also linked to wrinkly faces, said the researchers.


Team leader, Dr Bipen Patel, said "We think there is a genetic susceptibility to COPD. What this research shows is that those who are prone to COPD are also prone to wrinkles. If there is a gene for COPD susceptibility, it may also increase the chance of someone developing wrinkles." He added that wrinkles may become a risk indicator for COPD.


As early diagnosis is an essential part of effective COPD treatment, perhaps doctors should look out for middle-aged smoking patients who have wrinkly skin.