Abstract
Smoking is the environmental factor involved in rheumatoid arthritis etiopathology. The data from the literature show that the smoking influence both the appearance and the development of rheumatoid arthritis. The study aims to analyzes how smoking affects disease activity.
A prospective study was conducted on a sample of 264 rheumatoid arthritis patients who were registered with the Department of Rheumatology at the Medical Clinic II, Clinical Emergency Hospital “St. Andrew “, Constanta. We performed demographic variables, clinical and biological. We specifically inquiring smoking status and parameters of disease activity variables expressed by DAS28 and its variables.
Smoking status was correlated with high and moderate active disease and ESR values and pacient global assessment. No statistically significantly correlated with CRP, tender joint count, swollen joint count.
In conclusion, smoking influences disease activity.