Background: Similar smoking-related changes in the collagen and elastin could play a role in the pathogenesis of both skin wrinkling and chronic airflow obstruction. The hypothesis was tested by analyzing whether increased facial wrinkling, especially in smokers, is associated with the presence of airflow obstruction.
Methods: An age-stratified randomized sample of the general population comprising 6034 men and 7152 women between 30 and 80 years of age was analyzed. The recording of wrinkling in the crow's foot area of the right eye was performed according to an earlier described severity score. As an index of airflow obstruction, we used the ratio between forced expiratory volume in 1 s and forced vital capacity in percent (FEV1/FVC%).
Results: Multiple regression analysis comprising current and previous smokers showed that, after controlling for age, subjects with highest wrinkle scores had on average FEV1/FVC% that was 1.2-1.9% lower than in subjects with lower wrinkle scores. No association between facial wrinkling and airflow obstruction was observed among lifetime nonsmokers.
Conclusions: Increased facial wrinkling is independent of age when associated with airflow obstruction in smokers, but not in never-smokers. The magnitude of this association, however, is small.