RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Smoking, Smoking Cessation, and Disease Activity in a Large Cohort of Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis
JF The Journal of Rheumatology
JO J Rheumatol
FD The Journal of Rheumatology
SP 904
OP 909
DO 10.3899/jrheum.110852
VO 39
IS 5
A1 MARK C. FISHER
A1 MARC C. HOCHBERG
A1 MUHAMMAD EL-TAHA
A1 JOEL M. KREMER
A1 CHENG PENG
A1 JEFFREY D. GREENBERG
A1 the CORRONA Investigators
YR 2012
UL http://www.jrheum.org/content/39/5/904.abstract
AB Objective. While cigarette smoking is the best-studied environmental factor contributing to rheumatoid arthritis (RA), no study to date has examined the influence of smoking cessation on disease activity. We examined this relationship in an observational cohort of patients with RA in the United States. Methods. Patients enrolled in the Consortium of Rheumatology Researchers of North America registry (CORRONA) were stratified into never, former, and current smokers at enrollment. Current smokers were further stratified into continued and ceased smoking groups during their followup in the registry. The primary outcome was change in Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI) at last visit in a multivariate, random-effects regression model accounting for multiple timepoints. Results. At last visit, there was no significant change in CDAI between ceased smokers and continued smokers (coefficient −0.00091, SE 0.0033, p = 0.7834). The study did confirm prior cross-sectional studies that current smokers have worse disease activity than former or never smokers. Conclusion. In the short term, smoking cessation did not appear to influence change in disease activity over time.