Version 1
: Received: 20 September 2023 / Approved: 21 September 2023 / Online: 21 September 2023 (11:30:14 CEST)
How to cite:
Bedeković, D.; Kirner, D.; Bošnjak, I.; Novak, S. The Correlation between Cigarette Smoking and Rheumatoid Arthritis: An Eight-Year, Prospective, Clinical, Observational, Cohort Study. Preprints2023, 2023091478. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202309.1478.v1
Bedeković, D.; Kirner, D.; Bošnjak, I.; Novak, S. The Correlation between Cigarette Smoking and Rheumatoid Arthritis: An Eight-Year, Prospective, Clinical, Observational, Cohort Study. Preprints 2023, 2023091478. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202309.1478.v1
Bedeković, D.; Kirner, D.; Bošnjak, I.; Novak, S. The Correlation between Cigarette Smoking and Rheumatoid Arthritis: An Eight-Year, Prospective, Clinical, Observational, Cohort Study. Preprints2023, 2023091478. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202309.1478.v1
APA Style
Bedeković, D., Kirner, D., Bošnjak, I., & Novak, S. (2023). The Correlation between Cigarette Smoking and Rheumatoid Arthritis: An Eight-Year, Prospective, Clinical, Observational, Cohort Study. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202309.1478.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Bedeković, D., Ivica Bošnjak and Srđan Novak. 2023 "The Correlation between Cigarette Smoking and Rheumatoid Arthritis: An Eight-Year, Prospective, Clinical, Observational, Cohort Study" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202309.1478.v1
Abstract
Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) increases the risk of mortality and morbidity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Patients with RA have a 50-60% increased risk for CVD compared with the general population. Cardiovascular risk is commonly meas-ured using the Systemic Coronary Risk Estimation 2 calculator modified for patients with RA. Traditional modifiable risk factors for CVD include arterial hypertension, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, diabetes, cigarette smoking, and low physical activity. In this study, we analyzed the effects of smoking and the risk of CVD in patients with RA.
Methods: This was a prospective, clinical, cohort study with an eight-year follow-up pe-riod. A total of 201 patients, 124 with RA (study group) and 77 with osteoarthritis (OA) (control group), were included in this study. However, only 137 patients (82 with RA and 55 with OA) completed the study. Fifty-eight patients (41 with RA and 17 with OA) died during the study period. We compared the prevalence of smoking and its association with the risk for CVD and RA.
Results: The prevalence of smoking in the RA group was higher than that in the OA group (p<0.0001). Trends in the prevalence of smoking in both groups did not change signifi-cantly during the follow-up period. In the RA group, smoking was associated with the in-cidence of CVD in current smokers (p=0.028) and in patients with a history of smoking (p=0.016). These results suggest that smokers have an increased risk for RA. The trend of continued smoking in patients with RA may be attributed to attempts to reduce stress caused by RA symptoms.
Conclusions: Previous studies have shown that current and former smokers with RA have more severe symptoms, more joint damage, and poorer response to therapy than those who have never smoked. However, the reason underlying the trend of continued cigarette smoking in patients with RA remains unclear. Further studies are needed to clarify the trend of continued smoking in patients with RA.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
