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New Research - January 2010
Smoking is bad for asthma, but more importantly, stopping smoking can reverse the deleterious effects
Summary
This Dutch group of investigators compared bronchial inflammation and remodeling in current smokers with asthma, ex-smokers with asthma, and asthmatics who had never smoked. They evaluated a total of 147 patients (66 never smokers, 46 ex-smokers, and 35 current smokers). Measurements included lung function, FENO, symptom questionnaires, induced sputum, and bronchial biopsies.
Smokers with asthma had:
- Lower FEV1
- Lower FENO
- Increased goblet cells
- Increased epithelial thickness
- A higher proliferation rate of intact and basal epithelium
- Increased mast cells
- Lower eosinophils
Ex-smokers demonstrated histologic findings similar to that of never smokers.
The authors concluded that asthmatic smokers have more pronounced histologic pathology as well as increased symptoms (as expected), but (encouragingly) ex-smokers had findings similar to those of never smokers.
Reference
Broekema M, et al. Airway epithelial changes in smokers, but not in ex-smokers, with asthma. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 2009; 180:1170-1178.
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