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Smoking, the oral contraceptive pill, and Crohn's disease

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Abstract

Both cigarette smoking and the oral contraceptive pill have been implicated as aggravating factors in Crohn's disease. Based upon the recent demonstration of multifocal gastrointestinal infarction in Crohn's disease, a possible pathogenic mechanism for this condition, we propose how smoking and the oral contraceptive pill may potentiate a tendency for focal thrombosis and hence exacerbate the activity of Crohn's disease.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Inflammatory Bowel Disease Study Group, Academic Department of Medicine, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, Pond Street, NW3 2QG, London, England

    A. J. Wakefield FRCS, A. M. Sawyerr MRCP, M. Hudson MRCP, A. P. Dhillon FRCP & R. E. Pounder FRCP

  2. Academic Department of Histopathology, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, Pond Street, NW3 2QG, London, England

    A. J. Wakefield FRCS, A. M. Sawyerr MRCP, M. Hudson MRCP, A. P. Dhillon FRCP & R. E. Pounder FRCP

Authors
  1. A. J. Wakefield FRCS
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  2. A. M. Sawyerr MRCP
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  3. M. Hudson MRCP
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  4. A. P. Dhillon FRCP
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  5. R. E. Pounder FRCP
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Wakefield, A.J., Sawyerr, A.M., Hudson, M. et al. Smoking, the oral contraceptive pill, and Crohn's disease. Digest Dis Sci 36, 1147–1150 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01297463

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01297463

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