Rheumatoid arthritis and smoking

Why do we refuse to treat smokers?

If you are a smoker, please stop smoking completely by the time of your first visit.

We will give a stern warning to anyone who smells of tobacco even after the examination.

Tobacco does not only cause lung cancer, myocardial infarction and cerebral thrombosis.

It accelerates the aging of all tissues in the human body, including joints, cartilage, bones, blood vessels, and skin.

It has also been proven to be an aggravating factor for osteoporosis.

For patients undergoing rheumatism treatment, the addition of tobacco to anti-rheumatic drugs increases toxicity and increases the risk and mortality of infections such as pneumonia.

To seriously cure rheumatism, bone and joint diseases, the first step in treatment is to stop smoking.

You cannot blame your constitution, such as being overweight, as it is mostly determined by heredity.

However, you can stop smoking if you have a strong will.

Smoking also damages the health of the people around you and your family due to the smoke.

Especially for those who have occupations that require them to spend all day in cigarette smoke, such as restaurant staff, I really feel sorry for them.

I estimate that their life expectancy may be shortened considerably.

I think it's not worth it. It is as if they are selling their own health to work.

I believe that managers and employers have a duty to protect the health of their own employees.

There are many people who say that they quit smoking (even though they never thought about it before) in order to visit our clinic, and that they are glad they did.

In addition, we do not allow smokers to work in our clinic, and we do not allow smokers to work for our contractors.

Why do we refuse to treat smokers? 2

Smokers are less likely to be cured of rheumatism

Large studies have shown that smokers have a much lower rate of getting better with rheumatoid arthritis than non-smokers, even with MTX and biologics (anti-TNF-alpha drugs).

Evidence Source

Patients with early rheumatoid arthritis who smoke are less likely to respond to treatment with methotrexate and tumor necrosis factor inhibitors: observations from the Epidemiological Investigation of Rheumatoid Arthritis and the Swedish Rheumatology Register cohorts.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/art.27758/abstract