New Data on Negative Effects of Smoking on Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF)

According to a new British research, smoking patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, or IPF, are more likely to die from the disease earlier than those patients who never smoked. Ex-smokers suffering from IPF run almost the same risk of earlier death as current smokers. The results of the research have been published in the journal of the American Thoracic Society.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a relatively rare disease of the lungs, which is currently considered incurable. The cause of IPF is unknown. Patients with IPF experience chronic episodes of lung inflammation that leads to developing of pulmonary fibrosis, and, at the average, have a lifespan of just a few (four to six) years after receiving the diagnosis. Common symptoms of the disease include progressively worsening shortness of breath, coughing, fatigue, and weight loss.

Dr. Athol U. Wells, the leading author of the research who works for the London’s Royal Brompton Hospital, pointed out that the new findings contradict to some previously conducted studies showing that smoking patients with IPF lived longer and had a milder form of the disease. On the contrary, he said, cigarette smoking has now been proven to aggravate the disease and induce higher and earlier mortality in IPF patients.

During the research, the scientists examined case studies of 249 IPF patients, correlating the severity of the symptoms and survival rates in the patients with their former and present smoking habits. Applying the CPI, or composite physiologic index that measures the severity of the disease taking into consideration such factors as diffusion lung capacity, lung function and emphysema effects, the researchers have arrived to the conclusion that non-smoking patients have better rates of survival than current and ex-smokers.

Several other studies designed to find a precise correlation between cigarette smoking, on the one hand, and smoking-induced IPF, emphysema and other types of fibrotic lung conditions, on the other, are currently underway. This research is also aimed to examine how exactly tobacco consumption affects the onset and progression of fibrotic lung diseases, which may lead to the development of new, more effective treatment options.

Deanna Campbell