Asthmatics who quit smoking breathe easier
By Megan Rauscher
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Cigarette smokers with asthma
who quit smoking see significant improvement in their lung
function as early as one week after quitting, a study shows.
Kicking the habit also reduces inflammation in the airways.
“This demonstrates that there is a reversible component to
the harmful effects of smoking on the airways in asthma,” the
study investigators note in the American Journal of Respiratory
and Critical Care Medicine.
“The degree of the improvement in lung function noted in
the smokers with asthma after quitting was much greater than we
expected,” Dr. Neil C. Thomson told Reuters Health. In fact, he
and his colleagues say, the improvement “far exceeds” that seen
with high doses of steroids.
Thomson, from the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and his
associates assessed lung function and airway inflammation in 11
asthmatics who continued to smoke and 10 asthmatics who quit
for six weeks. They were smoking 10 or more cigarettes per day
and had a smoking history of more than 10 pack-years and had
reduced lung function.
The lung function of the “quit” group improved “by a
considerable degree” within one week of stopping smoking, the
researchers report.
Their “asthma control score” also improved with smoking
cessation but this did not translate into an improvement in
daily asthma symptoms recorded by subjects up to two months
after quitting.
The quitters also showed a reduction in airway inflammation
six weeks after smoking cessation compared with those who
continued to smoke.
“Our research,” Thomson told Reuters Health, “has shown
that smokers with asthma obtain clinically important
improvements in lung function and airway inflammation shortly
after stopping smoking. These results help emphasize the
importance of smoking cessation for adults with asthma.”
Of the 10 asthmatic smokers who successfully quit smoking,
five did so using nicotine patches, one used acupuncture and
four quit without any aid.
SOURCE: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care
Medicine, July 15, 2006.