Smoking doubles the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and additionally contributes to cardiovascular, pulmonary, and oncologic diseases, the main causes of death in patients with RA. While patients are more likely to quit smoking after diagnosis of a smoking-related chronic disease, research shows most will continue to smoke.
HIP Investigator, Dr. Christie Bartels et al. identified predictors of smoking cessation in patients with RA in two health systems to guide future intervention implementation efforts. Authors found that emphasizing smoking cessation with new or seropositive RA patients and leveraging health system interventions could improve smoking cessation and outcomes in RA.
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