Smoking is associated with risk for developing inflammatory bowel disease including late onset ulcerative colitis: a prospective study

In a case-control study, never smoking is associated with a reduced likelihood of developing inflammatory bowel disease, with odds ratios of 0.341 for Crohn's disease and 0.473 for ulcerative colitis.

• The median age at diagnosis for Crohn's disease was 53 years and for ulcerative colitis was 52 years.
• The median time between health survey and diagnosis was 4 years for Crohn's disease and 6 years for ulcerative colitis.
• Multivariate analysis indicates that never smoking is linked to a lower risk of developing both Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
• No significant differences were found in marital status, education level, alcohol consumption, physical activity, or moist smokeless tobacco use between patients and healthy controls.
• The absence of an association for snus users suggests a non-nicotine mechanism may contribute to the risks associated with combusted tobacco.

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