If You Have Rheumatoid Arthritis and You Smoke, Listen Up

Tossing your cigarettes may help control your rheumatoid arthritis, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in San Francisco, Calif.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disease that causes pain, stiffness, swelling, and limitation in the motion and function of multiple joints. Though joints are the principal body parts affected by RA, inflammation can develop in other organs as well. An estimated 1.3 million Americans have RA, and the disease typically affects women twice as often as men.

Smoking is known to increase the risk and severity of RA. Smoking cessation has been shown to have a positive impact in slowing the progression of other diseases such as coronary disease and emphysema.

Researchers recently evaluated 14,847 patients with RA based on their smoking status. Of those, 65.4 percent were non-smokers, 22.1 percent were former smokers, and 12.5 percent were active smokers. Smoking cessation was defined as patient-reported cessation over two consecutive physician office visits, and independent variables in the study included patient age, gender, ethnicity, rheumatoid factor status, and use of different therapies for treating RA.

Researchers primarily monitored change in Clinical Disease Activity Index—a composite measure of disease activity in people with RA that assesses change over time— as well as other measures of disease activity including tender and swollen joint counts and laboratory tests.

Among 1,405 patients who smoked at enrollment into the registry, 21.1 percent successfully stopped smoking. In comparing this group to patients who continued to smoked, researchers found no significant differences in disease duration, rheumatoid factor or CCP status, non-biologic DMARD or biologic use. However, at the last follow-up visit, Clinical Disease Activity Index was higher among active smokers than among patients who had stopped smoking. Individual measures of active disease including swollen and tender joint counts and C-reactive protein were all lower in the patients who had stopped smoking.

These results suggest that stopping smoking can lessen RA disease activity over and above current medical treatment.

"While these results are preliminary, it seems that quitting smoking, which would have many other health benefits, also may benefit patients with rheumatoid arthritis,” explains Mark C. Fisher, MD, MPH; Research Fellow, NYU Medical Center; Hospital for Joint Disease, New York, N.Y. “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 says, noting that further research is necessary to confirm these early findings.

The ACR is an organization of and for physicians, health professionals, and scientists that advances rheumatology through programs of education, research, advocacy and practice support that foster excellence in the care of people with or at risk for arthritis and rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases. For more information on the ACR’s annual meeting, see www.rheumatology.org/annual.

Women Who Smoke at Increased Risk of Lung Disease

Description

Here’s another reason not to smoke, especially for women: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).




Here’s another reason not to smoke, especially for women: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

This disabling breathing disorder is increasingly becoming a problem for women, according to the January issue of Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource. The most important risk factor for COPD is long-term cigarette smoking.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a broad term that describes any of a group of illnesses that block airflow through the lungs. The most common are emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Signs and symptoms of COPD -- persistent cough, increased mucus production, shortness of breath and frequent colds and respiratory problems -- often develop gradually, and people don’t realize they have the disease until it’s advanced.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. The COPD death rate for women rose much faster between 1980 and 2000 than it did for men. In 2000, the number of women dying of COPD surpassed men for the first time. According to recent research, women with the disease experience more breathlessness, higher rates of depression and lower quality of life than men with the disease -- even those women reported fewer years of smoking than men.

The increase in female rates of COPD likely reflects the increase in the number of female smokers since the 1940s, when advertisers began promoting smoking as a symbol of independence for women.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease can be treated, but not cured. The most important treatment is to stop smoking. For smokers with COPD, quitting smoking reduces subsequent loss of lung function by half and cuts the death rate by nearly half. And some better news for women is that those who quit smoking receive twice as great an improvement in lung function as men. (Newswise)

If You want to quit Smoking?

Help is Available for Smokers Who Want to Quit as Minnesota's Smoke-Free Law Takes Effect Oct. 1


Statement from Mark W. Banks, M.D., CEO of Blue Cross

EAGAN, Minn., Sept. 29 - "As the state implements the new
smoke-free law on October 1, Minnesotans should know FREE support is
available for anyone who wants to quit smoking and that Blue Cross and Blue
Shield of Minnesota stands ready to help its members with the BluePrint for
Health(R) stop-smoking program," said Mark W. Banks, M.D., CEO of Blue
Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross).
"Historically, when other states have gone smoke-free, requests for
help to quit smoking have increased. We expect the same thing to happen
here in Minnesota. Quitting is hard, but with medication and phone
coaching, a smoker's odds of quitting can be greatly improved."
Since the BluePrint for Health(R) program's inception in May of 2000,
Blue Cross has enrolled nearly 35,000 members with an average quit rate of
29 percent. Nationally, only around 5 percent of smokers are successful in
their quit attempts.
"The negative health effects of secondhand smoke are staggering," Banks
continued. "More than $215 million is spent each year in Minnesota to treat
health conditions caused by exposure to secondhand smoke and another 580
deaths are caused by secondhand smoke exposure. Knowing what's at risk,
we're pleased that Minnesota has become the 20th state to protect all
workers from the harms of secondhand smoke," Banks concluded.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, with headquarters in the St.
Paul suburb of Eagan, was chartered in 1933 as Minnesota's first health
plan and continues to carry out its charter mission today: to promote a
wider, more economical and timely availability of health services for the
people of Minnesota. A nonprofit, taxable organization, Blue Cross is the
largest health plan based in Minnesota, covering 2.9 million members in
Minnesota and nationally through its health plans or plans administered by
its affiliated companies. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota is an
independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association,
headquartered in Chicago. Go to http://www.bluecrossmn.com to learn more
about Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. (PRN)