Rhinologic signs associated with snuff taking

Abstract

tObjective: To study rhinologic signs associated with nasal tobacco (snuff) intake in Parakou, northernBenin. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional descriptive comparative study included 300 tobacco snuff takersand 300 subjects who did not use tobacco at all. The sampling technique was a stratified 4-stage randomsample for non-users and a convenience non-random sample for snuff takers. Results: The sex-ratio was 0.92 in non-users and 41.9 in snuff takers. Duration of snuff taking was morethan 20 years in 24.3% of cases. The symptoms studied were significantly more frequent in snuff tak- ers than non-users (P < 0.05). Snoring was reported by 58.3% of snuff takers, versus 5.7% of non-users(P = 0.000). Nasal obstruction and rhinorrhea were reported by respectively 26.3% and 22.7% of snuff tak- ers, versus 6.3% and 5.3% of non-users (P = 0.000). Hyposmia was reported by 14% of snuff takers, versus1.3% of non-users (P = 0.000). Anterior rhinoscopy found abnormalities in 81.7% of snuff takers, comparedto 10.67% of non-users. Nasal hypertrichosis was more frequent in snuff takers than non-users: 40% versus5% (P = 0.000). Conclusion: Nasal intake of tobacco is responsible for morbidity in snuff takers compared to non-users oftobacco. © 2019 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. 1. IntroductionIt is generally agreed that non-smoked tobacco intake in theform of snuff or of chewing tobacco has harmful health effects, evenif less severe than those of smoking [1,2]. The morbidity and mor- tality associated with snuff taking worldwide are considerable [3]. The harmful effects vary geographically, according to snuff com- position, which is regional [1]. Snuff was one of the earliest formsof tobacco use, but has become very rare [4,5], persisting mainlyin Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa [6–8], although the number of con- sumers has been increasing recently in the USA [9]. In northernBenin, snuff taking is common, often for therapeutic reasons or formystical protection. The present study sought to study the epidemi- ological characteristics and rhinologic signs associated with snufftaking as practiced in Parakou, northern Benin