Asthma Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Asthma, including details on symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, causes, medications.

Smoking and asthma in adults.

Piipari R, Jaakkola JJ, Jaakkola N, Jaakkola MS

Finnish Institute of Occupational, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.

Studies on the effect of smoking on adulthood asthma have provided contradictory results. The current authors conducted a population-based incident case-control study to assess the effects of current and past smoking on the development of asthma in adults. During a 2.5 yr study period, all new asthma cases clinically diagnosed (n=521) and randomly selected controls (n=932) from a geographically defined district in southern Finland were recruited. The risk of developing asthma was significantly higher among current smokers with an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 1.33 (95% confidence interval 1.00-1.77) and among ex-smokers with an adjusted OR 1.49 (1.12-1.97) compared with never-smokers. Among current smokers, the risk increased up to 14 cigarettes x day(-1), and a similar trend was observed in relation to cumulative smoking. In conclusion, the current results support the hypothesis that smoking causes asthma in adulthood.

Published 1 November 2004 in Eur Respir J, 24(5): 734-9.
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