Modern Health Observation

Smoking increases the risk of tuberculosis (TB) and a new study in Hong Kong suggested that exposure to secondhand smoke snuff hand also increases the chance of contracting the disease.

The team of Chi C. Leung, Wanchai Chest Clinic in Wanchai, compared the risk of TB in older women who lived with (at least) a smoker with the risk of women who lived in smoke-free homes.

The study included 15 486 non-smokers, between 65 and 74. All lived with their husbands and had attended one of 18 health centers for elderly in Hong Kong between 2000 and 2003. One in four lived with a smoker.

During follow-up, which lasted until late 2008 (or until death or diagnosis of TB), 117 women developed active TB and 69 of these cases were laboratory confirmed.

The team found that women who were exposed to secondhand smoke were 1.5 times more likely to develop active TB than women not living with a smoker, while the risk of culture-confirmed disease was 1, 7 times higher. Exposure to secondary smoking caused 14% of active TB cases and 18% of culture confirmed cases. In addition, women who lived with a smoker were much more likely to have some type of obstructive lung disease such as emphysema, or diabetes mellitus at baseline.

The results were published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Commenting on the study, Dr. Neal L. Benowitz of the University of California, San Francisco, wrote that secondhand smoke causes several harmful effects, including increased risk of developing lung cancer and heart disease in adults, and the onset of bronchial asthma and lower respiratory disease in children.

In addition, smoking promotes the development of respiratory infections such as TB, by altering lung capacity to eliminate the infection. In China, 60% of men smoke, but only 4% of women, so the secondhand smoke affects them disproportionately.

“Exposure to secondhand smoke is another pressing health problem that affects women in less developed countries. Therefore, the smoking ban should be part of the agenda of protecting women’s health,” said the specialist .