LONDON (Dispatches) Smoking is strongly linked to relapse of a serious bowel condition, research has confirmed. People with Crohn's disease are more likely to experience a recurrence after surgery if they continue to smoke, the study has found.
Researchers led by the University of Edinburgh conducted a UK-wide trial of the therapy involving 240 people with Crohn's disease.
Patients were monitored for three years after they had undergone surgery. Some 128 patients were treated with a drug from the thiopurine family called mercaptopurine and 122 were given a dummy medicine.
Only three of 29 smokers treated with the therapy experienced a relapse compared with 12 of 26 who received the dummy drug.
The rate of relapse in the non-smoking group was much lower and was unaffected by treatment with the medicine.
Crohn's disease occurs when the immune system attacks the lining of the gut and bowel to cause severe inflammation. It results in abdominal pain, urgent diarrhea, sickness and profound lethargy.
Patients are initially treated with one of a class of drugs called thiopurines, which dampen the immune system.
More than half of patients require surgery to remove the affected section of their bowel. Surgery is not curative, however, and the condition often relapses.