Cigarette smoking ups systemic lupus erythematosus risk

Smoking cigarettes appears to increase the risk of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), suggests a recent study. In addition, sex and age do not contribute to the risk of SLE over time.

“The association between cigarette smoking and the risk of SLE remains a matter for debate,” the investigators said. “Additionally, the effect of the change of smokers’ demographics on the risk of development of SLE over time has not been formally addressed.”

A literature search was performed in computerized databases using the keywords ‘lupus’, ‘smoking’, ‘cigarette’, ‘environmental’, ‘autoimmune’, and ‘connective tissue disorder’ to identify studies examining the association between cigarette smoking and SLE occurrence.

A Bayesian meta-analysis was then conducted by computing the odds ratio (OR) between current and never smokers as well as former and never smokers. Multivariate meta-regression was used to assess the effect of publication time, sex, and age of patients with SLE on the effect sizes.

Twelve studies comprising 3,234 individuals with SLE and 288,336 control participants were identified. Data aggregation showed a significant association between current smoking status and SLE occurrence (OR, 1.54, 95 percent credible interval [CrI], 1.06–2.25) and a nonsignificant trend between former smoking status and SLE occurrence (OR, 1.39, 95 percent CrI, 0.95–2.08).

“Publication time, sex, and the mean age of patients with SLE did not explain the heterogeneity of the effect sizes,” the investigators said.