Heavy and light smokers have slight differences in chromatic discrimination

Abstract

Objectives: The effects of smoking on color vision have been scarcely studied. To bridge such gap, this study examined if there were differences in chromatic discrimination between heavy and light smokers. Methods: The psychophysical Trivector test was used to evaluate chromatic discrimination in healthy controls (n = 36), heavy smokers (n = 29), and light smokers (n = 32). The subject’s task was to identify the orientation of the Landolt C ring gap – presented and randomized in one of the four positions (e.g., up, down, right, and left). Results: The thresholds for Protan (red), Deutan (green) and Tritan (blue) were higher in heavy smokers compared to nonsmokers but not to light smokers. Conclusions: The results confirm that heavy smoking and chronic exposure to its harmful compounds affect color discrimination when compared to light smoking; and this is more pronounced in heavy smokers than light smokers. This is particularly important to understand the differences among smokers on visual and multisensory processing.

Keywords:

• Cigarette smoking
• color discrimination
• chromatic discrimination
• substance misuse
• Cambridge Colour Test

Acknowledgements

The authors would like the participants for their time and good will. We would like to thank the reviewers for their valuable and insightful comments.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), Brazil (305258/2019-2), and Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) supported this study.