Smoking boosts risk of tuberculosis

Cigarette smoking appears to be a risk factor for tuberculosis infection and tuberculosis disease, according to findings from a systematic review of the literature and pooled analysis of studies.

Dr. Kirk R. Smith, of the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues searched eight databases for relevant articles on the topic and identified 24 that met their inclusion criteria.

Taken together, the data point to a marked increased the relative risk of TB infection and disease among current and former smokers compared with nonsmokers.

There did not appear to be an increased relative risk for death from TB in association with smoking in people with active tuberculosis, the researchers note.

“Tobacco control, which already is known to reduce the burden of a number of important diseases, including heart disease and lung cancer, seems to have an even bigger health benefit than was thought before,” Smith said in an interview with Reuters Health.

“From the TB perspective, tobacco control can now be included as part of TB control programs, which have focused on treatment of active cases in most countries,” he said.

“It is important to develop additional TB control strategies, however, since TB has been so difficult to manage in many parts of the world, is growing worldwide because of the HIV epidemic, and has evolved in some populations into drug-resistant forms,” Smith added.

SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, February 26, 2007.

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