RESEARCH - Breaking the smoking habit can cut RA pain

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Quit Smoking to Ease Rheumatoid Arthritis

Study Shows Breaking the Smoking Habit Can Cut RA Pain

By Bill Hendrick

WebMD Health NewsReviewed by Louise Chang, MD

Oct. 25, 2008

People with rheumatoid arthritis may be able to reduce the pain,

stiffness, and other symptoms of their disease by quitting smoking,

new research indicates.

Scientists presented evidence Saturday at the American College of

Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in San Francisco that quitting

smoking can reduce discomfort of swollen and tender joints in people

with rheumatoid arthritis.

" While these results are preliminary, it seems that quitting smoking,

which would have many other health benefits, also may benefit patients

with rheumatoid arthritis, " says Mark Fisher, MD, MPH, of New York

University Medical Center's Hospital for Joint Disease, in a news

release. " RA patients who stop smoking may see an improvement in the

number of joints that hurt them every day and in how they feel

overall. "

He said more research is needed to confirm what he described as early

findings of a connection between smoking and rheumatoid arthritis

symptoms.

Smoking is known to increase the risk and severity of rheumatoid

arthritis, and quitting the habit has been shown to have a positive

impact on other diseases, such as emphysema and coronary artery

disease.

The researchers focused on a change in the score of the Clinical

Disease Activity Index, which gives information on the degree of

disease activity, joint damage, and function. They also took into

account measures such as the number of tender and swollen joints and

laboratory tests.

Of 1,405 people who smoked when they enrolled in a registry of

patients with rheumatoid arthritis, 21.1% said they stopped smoking,

the researchers said. By the time of their last follow-up visit,

disease activity was higher in active smokers than in those who had

quit. The numbers of tender and swollen joints were lower in the group

of participants who had quit smoking.

The results, the researchers say, suggest that stopping smoking can

lessen disease activity in people with rheumatoid arthritis.

http://www.webmd.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/news/20081024/quit-smoking-to-ease-rhe\

umatoid-arthritis

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