THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN SMOKING AND INFLAMMATORY BOWEL-DISEASE AMONG ISRAELI JEWISH PATIENTS

Our objective was to assess the association be tween smoking status be fore the onset of disease and inflammatory bowel disease (ZED) in Isra eli Jewish patients through a case-control study conducted at the Hada ssah University Hospital in Jerusalem, Israel, and a periodic health e xamination center. The cases included 71 patients with ulcerative coli tis (UC) and 91 with Crohn's disease. Patients younger than 18 years a t onset of disease were excluded. The controls included 162 healthy, a symptomatic individuals, matched with the patients with IBD by age at onset of disease and gender. Fewer patients with UC were current smoke rs (9.8%) than were controls (25.0%; p < 0.05). More patients with UC were former smokers (21.0%) than were controls (14.0%; p < 0.05). The odds ratio for UC in smokers compared with ex-smokers was 0.26 (95% CI , 0.13-0.53), and for smokers compared with never-smokers was 0.34 (95 % CI, 0.21-0.54). No significant associations were found between smoki ng status and Crohn's disease. The results for UC are consistent with most reports and probably reflect a true association between smoking s tatus and disease. The lack of association between smoking and Crohn's disease is in agreement with a previous Israeli study but differs fro m other reports. This may reflect a genetic predisposition among Jews that obscures the effects of smoking.