TUESDAY, Feb. 10, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Smoking may hamper the effects of certain drugs used to treat inflammatory arthritis in the lower back, a new study from Switzerland says.
Researchers from University Hospital Zurich looked at how 700 people with this type of arthritis responded to treatment with a class of drugs called tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors. About two-thirds of the patients were smokers.
After one to two years of treatment, the drugs were significantly less effective in smokers. The difference was particularly apparent among patients who had higher levels of an inflammatory marker called C-reactive protein at the start of the study.
