MONDAY, Nov. 20 (HealthDay News) -- Smoking increases the risk of inflammatory bowel disease, with current smoking nearly doubling the risk of Crohn disease and former smoking nearly doubling the risk of ulcerative colitis, according to a meta-analysis published in the November issue of the Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
Susan Galandiuk, M.D., and colleagues from the University of Louisville in Kentucky, identified 22 studies published between 1980 and 2006 that examined the relationship between inflammatory bowel disease and smoking (13 for ulcerative colitis and nine for Crohn disease).
A meta-analysis showed that current smoking increased the risk of Crohn disease (odds ratio, 1.76) while former smoking increased the risk of ulcerative colitis (OR, 1.79).
"Our meta-analyses confirm that smoking is an important environmental factor in inflammatory bowel disease with differing effects in ulcerative colitis and Crohn disease," Galandiuk and colleagues conclude.
Abstract
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