Smoking cessation in chronic lung disease

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Researchers find smoking cessation does not reduce inflammation of the airways in chronic lung disease.
It's well established that smoking is the major cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). So it's of interest to know what impact smoking cessation might have on the condition.

A team at the University Medical Center, Groningen, The Netherlands, now reveals results of a smoking cessation study, comparing those with COPD and those without symptoms. After a year, lung inflammation decreased in the asymptomatic group but actually increased in the COPD group. It's not clear what this means - it may be some kind of healing effect related to repair of tissue damage. Further study is needed to discover whether the persistent inflammation is positive or negative in terms of the disease. It could well be that you need to quit smoking for more than a year to realize benefits in COPD.

Source
European Respiratory Journal November 2005

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