Latest study points to increased risk of tuberculosis among adults and kids exposed to second-hand smoke
Smoking not only increases the risk of developing lung cancer, but also tuberculosis. In a study published in the latest edition of medical journal PLOS Medicine, researchers have pointed out strong association between passive smoking and TB in both children and adults.
Dr Prakash C Gupta, one of the seven authors of the report, said, "We did meta-analysis of 18 studies which comprised statistical methods for contrasting and combining results from these studies in the hope of identifying patterns among study results. We found strong association between the second-hand smoking (SHS) and tuberculosis."
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), TB is among the top ten killers across the globe and ranks second after heart diseases in most high-burden regions. The study is more important for Mumbai, which is home to the highest number of TB patients in the world.
For a population of 1.2 crore, the city sees over 46,000 TB cases every year. In 2014, there were 3,522 multi-drug resistant TB cases reported from Mumbai. Gupta said that with TB being so rampant in the city, it is important the government makes a note for the contagious disease and tobacco control programmes.
Explaining on how smoking increases the risk of one getting TB, Gupta said tobacco smoke is thought to damage both the fine hairs lining the lungs that normally provide a defence against bacterial infections and the lungs' immune system.
"In our study we found children showing more than three-fold increased risk of SHS-associated active TB which was higher than the risk in adults exposed to SHS," said Dr Gupta. One in 14 tuberculosis patients in the city is a child.
"Mainstream and sidestream smoke in households is the major source of SHS exposure for children, and living in a crowded house with adult smokers, especially parents, prolongs children's exposure. The increased risk of TB disease presented in this meta-analysis supports the association between SHS exposure and active TB disease," said Gupta.
Factors like crowded place, unsanitary conditions, poor nutrition also leads to getting TB. Young and very old people who are immunocompromised are also prone to get active TB.
Dr Jalil Parker, chest physician at Lilavati Hospital said, "Just the way, having diabetes, hypertension, HIV etc. increases the risk of TB, smoking too is a risk factor. But a person gets the disease only when he is exposed to TB infection and the person's immunity is low."
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