Effect of Long Term Smoking on Postural Stability - An Observational Study on Chronic Smokers Between the Ages of 25 to 60 years

Volume : VII, Issue : VII, July - 2018

Dr Shivani Agarwal, Dr Sharad Patel

Background Cigarette smoking is one of the largest preventable causes of disease and premature death worldwide. Apart from being a prime

contributor to major medical illnesses, and cancer of many organs, it has also been associated with neuromotor deficit. This study evaluates the

effect of smoking on the postural stability of chronic smokers between the ages of 25 to 60 years.

Methods 100 healthy subjects were divided in 2 groups: Group A (Smokers) & Group B (Non smokers). Postural stability was assessed using the

Sharpened Romberg Test. For statistical analysis, GraphPad InStat DTCG was used. Student‘s unpaired t–test was applied to compare the results.

Results & Conclusion The performance of smokers was found to be the same as that of non smokers. No group differences were observed on the

eyes open trial of the Sharpened Romberg However, on the eyes closed trials, the smokers performed worse than non smokers.