CIGARETTE-SMOKING AND QUALITY-OF-LIFE IN PATIENTS WITH INFLAMMATORY BOWEL-DISEASE

Objective: Smoking has been reported as influencing disease activity i n inflammatory bowel disease. The aim of our study was to elucidate th e relationship between smoking and aspects of disease-specific quality of life in inflammatory bowel disease. Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: In 1105 prevalent patients with inflammatory bowel disease, diagnosed according to the criteria of Lennard-Jones and Truelove and Witts, disease-specific quality of life was investigated using the inf lammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ). Results: In Crohn's dise ase, smoking females reported a lower quality of life than non-smoking females (all four dimensions of the IBDQ). Using an explanatory model of relationships between the four dimensions for the analysis, it bec ame evident that smoking is associated with more bowel symptoms in you ng Crohn's disease females, with more emotional dysfunction in all Cro hn's disease females, and with more systemic symptoms in all three dia gnostic groups with marked bowel symptoms. Moderately smoking male ulc erative colitis patients reported fewer bower complaints compared with non-smoking male ulcerative colitis patients. Conclusion: There is a relationship between smoking and disease-specific quality of life in b oth ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. The hypothesis is presente d that a part of the observed differences in the studied quality of li fe dimensions with respect to age, sex and disease group are related t o concomitant oral contraceptive use.