Smoking and Alcoholism: Risk Factors for Papillitis?

Abstract

Introduction. The inflammation of the optic nerve at the level of the optic papilla or optic disc is known as papillitis. We couldn’t find enough published studies to back up smoking and alcoholism as absolute risk factors for papillitis, but the possibility has been raised, so we decided to conduct this study to see if we could find a statistically significant causal association between these factors and papillitis in our hospital. Methodology. In patients with papillitis treated at the Ophthalmology Center of Santiago de Cuba, an analytical investigation of cases and controls was conducted (2017–2019). 42 patients in Group 1 (Cases). Group 2 (Controls): 84 patients’ partners who visited at the same time as the patients but did not have any ophthalmological issues. Results. We found an OR = 1.60, with a CI of [0.74; 3.48], in the smoking-papillitis connection, but p > 0.05. Alcoholism was linked to papillitis with an OR of 1.19, a CI of [0.53; 2.68], and a p value of 0.05. Conclusions. Smoking and drunkenness had no statistically significant causal relationship with papillitis in our investigation.