Because smokers are less likely to develop ulcerative colitis (UC), a type of inflammatory bowle disease, patients with UC may be tempted to start smoking to lessen their symptoms. Researchers found no beneficial effects of smoking, however, in a nationwide study published in Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics that included 6,754 patients with UC.
Because smokers are less likely to develop ulcerative colitis (UC), a type of inflammatory bowel disease, patients with UC may be tempted to start smoking to lessen their symptoms. Researchers found no beneficial effects of smoking, however, in a nationwide study that included 6,754 patients with UC.
In the Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics study, smokers and never‐smokers with UC had similar outcomes with respect to flares, medication use, hospitalisations, and colon surgery. Also, smoking cessation did not worsen the course of disease in patients.
“We did not find any benefits of smoking in ulcerative colitis. We hope our study will give people with ulcerative colitis the confidence to avoid smoking and thereby improve their health in general,” said lead author Jonathan Blackwell, BMBS, of St. George's Healthcare NHS Trust and St. George's University, in London.
Additional Information
Link to Study: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/apt.15390
About Journal
Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics is an international journal of gastroenterology and hepatology.
The journal accepts systematic reviews, meta-analyses, randomised controlled trials and original papers concerned with Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
AP&T is particularly interested in therapies and diagnostics, including all aspects of translation from bench to bedside: identification of novel therapeutic targets, epidemiology, clinical trials, drug safety and meta-analyses.
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