Smoking and Colitis: New research supports giving up

Published: 22 October 2019

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New research has found that people living with Colitis should not reach for a cigarette, despite the belief that smoking could have a protective effect.

Whilst the link between smoking and Colitis is poorly understood, it has previously been shown, in some studies, that smoking may delay or prevent a person from developing the condition.

The nation-wide study of 6,754 people with Colitis, led by Jonathan Blackwell at George's Healthcare NHS Trust and St. George's University, found no beneficial effect of smoking.

In the Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics study, people with Colitis who were smokers and those who had never smoked had similar outcomes with respect to flares, medication use, hospitalisations, and colon surgery. Also, people who smoke and then quit do not experience worse disease-related outcomes.

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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.

The researchers used a clinical research database to group 6754 patients into 3 groups; never smoked, ex-smokers, and smokers. They then created different subgroups, including persistent smokers and smokers who quit within 2 years after being diagnosed with Colitis and compared the rates of overall steroid use, flares that were treated with steroids, steroid dependency, use of the medications azathioprine and mercaptopurine, people who were hospitalised for their Colitis, and those who had a colectomy. The researchers found that by comparing the groups, there was a similar risk of all the above, whether someone was a smoker, an ex-smoker or never smoker.

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Despite the harmful effects of smoking, including an increased risk of bowel and lung cancer, some people living with Colitis may have been tempted to smoke due to data from previous studies. Jonathan Blackwell’s study is therefore important in its reassurance to people with Colitis that there is no benefit to smoking.

We are aware that for some people it can be difficult to quit, and we would encourage them to discuss this with their healthcare professional who can signpost them to the support that is available to help with this.

More information is available in the full paper.

Find out more about smoking and IBD.

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