Jump to full article: The Hindu Online (in), 2009-08-24
Author: R. Prasad The Hindu
Intro: Although smoking per se does not cause the TB disease, those infected with the TB bacteria run a greater risk of developing the disease if they are smokers. Photo: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury
Several studies have shown that smoking is a risk factor for developing the tuberculosis disease (TB). But there was no large-scale study done on the general population to understand this association as most studies looked at high-risk individuals to understand how smoking makes a person develop the disease.
A large-scale study involving 17,699 participants, aged above 12 years, in the general population from a nationally representative sample in Taiwan has shown a clear link between smoking and the TB disease.
The study found that smokers had a two-fold risk of developing the TB disease. The results are published online in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
The subjects of the study had participated in Taiwan's 2001 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). They were followed up from 2001 to 2004. . . .
What is significant in the Taiwan study is that unlike previous observational studies, this took into consideration the cofounding factors, such as alcohol use and socioeconomic status.
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