Smoking, Smoking Cessation, and Disease Activity in a Large Cohort of Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis
The Journal of Rheumatology, 03/30/2012

Fisher MC et al. – In the short term, smoking cessation did not appear to influence change in disease activity over time.

• Patients enrolled in the Consortium of Rheumatology Researchers of North America registry (CORRONA) were stratified into never, former, and current smokers at enrollment.
• Current smokers were further stratified into continued and ceased smoking groups during their followup in the registry.
• The primary outcome was change in Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI) at last visit in a multivariate, random–effects regression model accounting for multiple timepoints.

• At last visit, there was no significant change in CDAI between ceased smokers and continued smokers (coefficient –0.00091, SE 0.0033, p = 0.7834).
• The study did confirm prior cross–sectional studies that current smokers have worse disease activity than former or never smokers.