Lupus : smoking women are two times more at risk

pikselstock/epictura

Published the 09.10.2017 at 13: 38

A A

Keywords :

lupustabacmaladie autoimmune

Skin lesions, joint pain, renal impairment… lupus suffering to thousands of patients in France. If this autoimmune disease is still poorly understood, the identification of risk factors advance regularly. Among them, the tobacco.

As shown in a study published in the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases, smokers are more at risk of developing a form of lupus. The good news is that hang-up of the ashtray is interesting. This allows you to limit the likelihood of suffering this pathology.

This observation is a common form of lupus, which is characterized by the presence of anti-DNA antibodies in the patient’s body. Present in 50 to 80% of cases, they “are very specific to lupus, in particular if they are at high rate,” explains an online course of the French College of Teachers in Rheumatology.

Several mechanisms involved

To reach these conclusions, researchers from the Harvard school of medicine (United States) are supported on a large american study, carried out among nurses in the country. On the thousands of women followed up since the 1980s, a little over 400 are suffering from a systemic lupus erythematosus.

Within this group, women are at a distinct disadvantage. The researchers calculated that the risk of developing auto-antibodies that are specific for the disease is doubled. Which does not appear in the repented tobacco. These observations confirm the results of previous studies.

Another result rich education : the number of cigarettes consumed in a year is associated with lupus. Thus, nurses who smoked more than 10 cibiches in the year are 60 % more at risk.

This link could be explained by several mechanisms of tobacco on the body. First, this consumption increases the oxidative stress and the production of inflammatory molecules. In addition, the cigarettes promote epigenetic changes and genetic mutations.