Patients with ulcer disease should be advised to stop smoking altogether. Smokers also show an increased incidence of cancers of the esophagus, bladder and pancreas over nonsmokers. Smokers generally weigh 5-15 pounds on the average less than nonsmokers. Children of smokers are also reported to have decreased height and increased risk of sudden infant death compared t o nonsmokers. Infants born to women who smoke during pregnancy weigh on the average 200 grams less than those born to nonsmokers.
Smoking has significant implications for the drug therapy of a wide variety of conditions.
For certain drugs smokers need different doses or a different frequency of administration than nonsmokers. When patients stop or reduce cigarette consu mption their drug regimen may need adjustment. Nicotine and other tobacco constituents increase the rate at which the body metabolizes many drugs. For example, smokers have the same high level of an antigen in blood as patients with colon cancer. Normal nonsmokers have less.