Stopping smoking reduces dependency on steroids in patients with Crohn's disease

Patients who quit smoking following a diagnosis of Crohn's disease are less reliant on corticosteroids, according to a new study.

The study by researchers from Imperial College London and St George's University of London used the Clinical Practice Research Datalink to investigate the impact of smoking and smoking cessation in a cohort of patients with Crohn's disease.

Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammatory condition of the gut that affects about 100,000 people in the UK and causes considerable morbidity and reduced quality of life. its causes and the factors that determine disease progression and behaviour are poorly understood.

Patients who were smokers at the time of their diagnosis had significantly higher use and dependency on Corticosteroids. Smoking was also associated with a two thirds higher risk of intestinal surgery during follow up.

Patients who quit smoking following their diagnosis were significantly more likely to remain steroid-free through the follow-up in comparison to 'persistent smokers'.

First author of the paper, Dr Christopher Alexakis, Honorary Research Fellow from Imperial College's School of Public Health and St George's University of London, reflected: "The findings of this study are significant for two main reasons. Firstly, this research represents one of the largest studies from primary care confirming the deleterious nature of tobacco smoking on outcomes in patients with Chron's disease, in keeping with findings form referral centre studies. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the data supports the notion that smoking cessation in Crohn's disease patients improves certain key clinical outcomes, in particular, the reduction in dependency on corticosteroids, which underpins the importance of physician-guided intervention early in Crohn's disease diagnosis to encourage smokers to quit."