Written By: Nirmalya Dutta | Published : March 25, 2014 10:18 AM IST
Here's another reason to kick the butt, smoking increases the recurrence of TB. According to a new study, regular tobacco smoke increases the risk of recurrence of tuberculosis in patients. The study published on Monday provides critical new insight into the harmful links between smoking tobacco and developing TB, a release said. 'More than ever before, we understand how tobacco harms people who have already been successfully treated for TB,' said Chung-Yeh Deng of National Yang-Ming University in Taipei and an author of the study.
'No one should undergo the long, complex treatment for TB only to unknowingly place themselves at heightened risk of getting the disease again. With this research, we can inform national tobacco control policies and educate patients about the risks that smoking tobacco poses,' he said. The study has been published in the April 2014 issue of the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease which went online Monday, a release said here.
The researchers followed a large sample of 5,567 TB patients in Taiwan, each of whom had TB confirmed through bacteriologic testing and went on to successfully complete TB treatment. Of those patients, 1.5 percent developed a recurrent case of TB, with regular tobacco smokers twice as likely to develop recurrent TB compared with former smokers and with individuals who had never smoked tobacco.
'Until this study was published, we didn't have a clear sense of how smoking tobacco posed risks to TB patients who have put in the hard work of completing their treatment,' said Paula Fujiwara, scientific director of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), which publishes the journal. TB is an infectious disease transmitted from person to person through air, typically through coughing or sneezing. According to the World Health Organisation, in 2012 an estimated 8.6 million people became infected with TB, and 1.3 million people died from TB or TB-related causes.
Makes you look old faster
Unhealthy gums
Increases cancer risk
Affects sex life
These are only a few drastic changes which smoking can lead to. There are several others so it is best to quit at the earliest. Here are some of the various smoking cessation techniques:
Cold Turkey The oldest and most successful method is going 'cold turkey' that is quitting smoking without taking any substitute for nicotine. 75% people who've quit smoking claim to have done so without the aid of any aid or supplement. Coupled with therapy and intervention cold turkey is supposed to be the best way to quit. There are various websites and helplines which help people quit without the aid of any medicines. Most replacement therapies look to chemically substitute the nicotine hit of smoking but it just means switching from one addiction to another. One of the champions of cold turkey was Allen Carr, a chain smoker who quit smoking and went on to write a book entitled The Easy Way to Quit Smoking which is the most popular book on quitting smoking in the world. Many people have quit smoking after reading his book and this list include celebrities like Ashton Kutcher, Britney Spears, Richard Branson, Anthony Hopkins and closer home Mahesh Babu and Hrithik Roshan. Allen Carr's basic principle was despite overwhelming evidence which points out the hazards of smoking people don't quit because they think of quitting as 'giving in' or giving up.
Nicotine Replacement Therapies (NRT) NRT looks to take care of nicotine craving by providing a substitute source without the harmful effects of tobacco. It works on the principle that though nicotine is the 'addictive' part of cigarettes the more dangerous ones are tar, carbon monoxide and other gases. There are various products under this Nicorette umbrella which look to aid cessation including chewing gums, lozenges, nasal sprays, patches and inhalers. Some electronic cigarettes also have nicotine filters. Real world studies have shown that NRT's aren't as effective as pharmaceutical companies claim. In the real world, 95% who have taken OTC medication have relapsed.
Other medical aid Several other companies have come out with smoking cessation drugs that don't look to replace nicotine. One such drug is Bupripion which is marketed as an anti-depressant, smoking cessation drug and anti-obesity pill. It works on the principle that smoking is a form of countering depression and an antidepressant can perform the same function. Another popular drug is Pfizer's Varenicline which reduces cravings by making the effects of nicotine less pleasurable. There are various side-effects of these drugs. Varenicline is known to cause suicidal thoughts, depression, drowsiness, nausea and the USFDA even claimed that it can cause cardiovascular disease.
Electronic cigarettes An electronic cigarette is a device that mimics the entire smoking process by producing a mist which has the same sensation (sometimes the same flavour too) of smoking. Some of them have nicotine and some of them don't. Click here to read more about e-cigarettes.
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