Smoking causes asthma in adults, new research from Finland

Main Category: Respiratory / Asthma
Article Date: 01 Nov 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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Scientists studied 521 people aged 21-63 who were newly diagnosed with asthma over a period of two and a half years, comparing them with a control group of 932 people who had no asthma symptoms.

They found that those who were currently smokers were one-third more likely to develop asthma than their non-smoking counterparts. However, ex-smokers were even more at risk, with a 49% greater likelihood of having asthma.

Gender was also a factor, said the researchers, with women who smoked 143% more likely than men to develop asthma symptoms.

Previous studies have examined the links between asthma and smoking, but have been complicated by exposures to other factors such as pet allergens or second-hand smoke, or by the presence of other respiratory conditions such as COPD.

This is the first study to control these other factors and draw conclusions about the effect of being a smoker on developing asthma.

'We know that smoking, both active and passive, makes asthma worse,' said Professor Martyn Partridge, Asthma UK's Chief Medical Adviser. 'We haven't previously had any evidence that smoking causes asthma, and previous associations have been difficult to interpret because you only have to have a few patients who have smoking induced COPD mis-classified as asthma, to skew the results.

'This new research is a carefully carried out study which has tried very hard to exclude the previous problems with misdiagnosis, and it does suggest a possibility that smoking may be among the numerous lifestyle changes that may have enhanced the risk of adults developing asthma.'

The research is published in the European Respiratory Journal.

Read more about giving up smoking at givingupsmoking.co.uk

For advice and information on asthma, call the Asthma UK Adviceline (08457 01 02 03) or email an asthma nurse specialist

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