NEW YORK, Mar 28 (Reuters Health) - People who suffer from a chronic bowel disease can ease their symptoms by quitting smoking, results of a study suggest.

The study of 474 smokers with Crohn's disease found that patients who stopped smoking for more than 1 year had similar rates of flare-ups as patients who never smoked, and both groups had fewer problems than current smokers.

Quitters, for example, had a 65% lower risk of flare-up than patients who were still smoking, the researchers report in the April issue of Gastroenterology.

Similarly, patients who quit smoking and those who never smoked were less likely to need steroids and immunosuppressive therapy than patients who continued to smoke. However, the risk of surgery did not differ among the groups, according to Dr. Jacques Cosnes and colleagues from the Hopital Rothschild in Paris, France.

"Patients with Crohn's disease who stop smoking for more than 1 year have a more benign disease course than if they had never smoked," Cosnes and his team conclude. "Smoking cessation should be emphasized as a major therapeutic goal in the treatment of Crohn's disease."

Crohn's disease is an inflammatory bowel disease of unknown cause, although genes are thought to play a role. Cigarette smoking is a risk factor and has been shown to exacerbate symptoms, which can include pain, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, bleeding and weight loss.

Drugs and surgery can help ease symptoms but there is currently no cure.

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