Cigarette Smoking and its Correlation with Pulmonary Findings in Bronchiolitis Obliterans due to Sulfur Mustard

The current study aimed to estimate the self reported smoking habit in subjects with chronic Bronchiolitis Obliterans (BO) due to Sulfur Mustard Not only healthy people smoke, but also patients with chronic lung disease. In this cross-sectional study, 473 subjects with chronic BO due to sulfur mustard were selected from clients to pulmonary clinic in Baqyiatallah (a.s.) hospital in 2005. Consecutive sampling was done. Demographic, clinical and para-clinical data [spirometry and chest HRCT (High-resolution computed tomography)] were registered. Self reported cigarette smoking habit (pack/year and history of smoking cessation) was also asked. 56 subjects (11.8%) reported cigarette smoking. 8 patients (1.7%) had the positive history of cigarette quitting, all had lost the quitting. Smoking was associated with a higher frequency of obstructive pattern in spirometry (p=0.034), but was not significantly correlated with other spirometric findings, patients history, symptoms or HRCT findings (p>0.05). History of smoking cessation was not statistically correlated with any of the study variables (p>0.05). 7 veterans (1.7%) from those claimed to be never-smoker had emphysema in HRCT. However the prevalence of self reported cigarette smoking was not high in the current study, it seems that smoking prone this population to obstruction of airways. It is essential for health care supervisors and providers of population affected with chronic BO in Iran to pay more attention on smoking cession programs. While about 2% of veterans claimed no smoking, emphysema showed that they do smoke for several years, smoking assessments need to be done using laboratory and more reliable techniques.