Smoking intensifies multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is accelerated and worsened by smoking

07/18/2013

Smoking worsens the course of multiple sclerosis (MS) and causes the disease to progress faster, according to the latest release from the German Neurological Society (DGN), citing a journal in the journal „Brain“ published British study. According to the board member of the German Society of Neurology, Professor Ralf Gold, smoking in the population is usually associated with health risks such as lung cancer and vascular occlusions, but that has „Smoking a third dimension.“

To examine the impact of smoking on multiple sclerosis, the British research team headed by Professor Cris S. Constantinescu at the University of Nottingham analyzed data from 895 MS patients. The mean age of the subjects was 49 years and they have suffered on average for 17 years in the immune disease, reports the DGN. When the diagnosis was made, nearly half (49 percent) of the study participants had been regular smokers. When comparing with the group of nonsmokers showed, „that the disease was clearly worse among smokers.“ Their values ​​fell by an average of 0.68 points on the six-point EDSS scale.

Smokers are more likely to experience impaired mobility in MS
Smoking has been known for a long time as a risk factor for the development of MS. So far, however, remained unclear, „what influence cigarettes have on the course of the disease“, reported DGN. The British study has now shown that smokers had a 64 percent higher risk of having impaired walking ability as a result of the disease, from a severity level of four on the EDSS scale. „The risk of reaching Grade 6, from which you can not walk more than 100 meters without support, was 49 percent higher for smokers“, according to the DGN communication.

Hot smoke and its ingredients boost MS
DGN board member Professor Gold explained that „the hot smoke and tar substances stimulate the lungs' immune system, thus enhancing the autoimmunity of the MS“ can. This finds expression in the significantly more severe course of the disease and its faster progression. The current study provides important information to properly assess the risk of smoking. „This is an important piece of work that also complements Swedish studies, in which researchers from the Karolinska Institute found that female smokers were even more likely to increase the risk“, said Professor Gold in the DGN press release.

Smokestop reduces the risk of particularly severe MS diseases
The positive effect of smoking cessation on the course of disease in MS, which the British researchers found in their study, was pleasing. „The elimination of cigarettes benefited both patients who had quit smoking before the onset of MS and those who did not use cigarettes until later“, reports the DGN. Compared to patients who did not quit smoking, the risk of reaching an EDSS score of 4 or 6 for both groups had fallen by about a third. (Fp)