Smoking Increases Disease Progression in Multiple Sclerosis

Cigarette smoking has been shown to increase disease progression and risk of brain shrinkage in patients with multiple sclerosis, researchers said, finding that smokers with the disease suffer from more disability over a shorter period of time than those that never smoked. 

While it is known that cigarette smoking increases patients’ risk of developing MS, few studies have explored the effects of smoking on patients with the disease and the results have been conflicting. 

To further explore these effects, researchers from the University of Nottingham’s Academic Division of Clinical Neurology analyzed data from 895 patients with MS (mean disease duration 17 years), 49% of which were regular smokers at disease onset or diagnosis. 

Researchers found that the average disease severity for ever-smokers was greater than never-smokers by 0.68 on the Multiple Sclerosis Severity Scale, and that ever-smokers were more likely to reach Expanded Disability Status Scale scores of 4 to 6.

Those that quit smoking either before or after disease onset had significantly lower risk of reaching EDSS scores of 4 (HR: 0.65, 95%CI: 0.50–0.83) to 6 (HR: 0.69, 95%CI: 0.53–0.90) than those that still smoked.

“We found that ever-smokers with multiple sclerosis accumulate more disability over a shorter period of time and suffer from more severe disease than never-smokers,” researchers concluded. “Our findings point toward the beneficial effect of smoking cessation even after the disease onset in patients with multiple sclerosis.

–Michael Potts

Reference:

Manouchehrinia A, Tench CR, Maxted J, Bibani RH, et al. Tobacco smoking and disability progression in multiple sclerosis: United Kingdom cohort study. Brain (2013) 136 (7): 2298-2304. doi: 10.1093/brain/awt139