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Smoking and Behçet's disease.
Clinical Rheumatology
|January 9, 2001
Summary
Cigarette smoking cessation can trigger Behçet's disease (BD) symptoms, particularly oral aphthous ulcers. This study found significantly higher rates of mucocutaneous lesions in BD patients who stopped smoking compared to non-smokers.
Area of Science:
- Rheumatology
- Dermatology
- Clinical Immunology
Background:
- Behçet's disease (BD) is a chronic inflammatory disorder.
- Recent claims suggest smoking cessation may activate BD symptoms.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of smoking cessation on Behçet's disease symptoms.
- To determine if stopping smoking triggers mucocutaneous manifestations in BD patients.
Main Methods:
- A cohort study involving 50 asymptomatic current smokers (CS) who ceased smoking and 60 non-smokers (NS) with BD.
- Patients were assessed for BD symptoms at baseline and one week after smoking cessation for the CS group.
Main Results:
- Within one week, 65.9% of former smokers developed oral aphthous ulcers, compared to 25% of non-smokers (p=0.0002).
- Other mucocutaneous symptoms like genital ulcers and erythema nodosum were also observed in the cessation group.
- A significant difference in the frequency of oral aphthous lesions was noted between the groups.
Conclusions:
- Cessation of cigarette smoking can precipitate or exacerbate mucocutaneous symptoms in Behçet's disease.
- Oral aphthous lesions are particularly sensitive to smoking cessation in BD patients.