title: Cigarette smoking and lung haemorrhage in glomerulonephritis caused by autoantibodies to glomerular basement membrane.
abstract: The smoking habits of 51 patients with glomerulonephritis caused by autoantibodies to the glomerular basement membrane (GBM) were investigated. 43 patients also had pulmonary haemorrhage; 8 did not. A full smoking history was obtained from 47 patients. Of these, all 37 cigarette smokers suffered lung haemorrhage, compared with only 2 of 10 non-smokers. There was no significant difference between the titres of circulating anti-GBM antibodies in smokers and non-smokers. In 1 patient resumption of smoking was closely followed by recrudescence of lung haemorrhage. These results largely explain the variable presence of pulmonary haemorrhage in anti-GBM disease.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D001485:Basement Membrane / Q000276:immunology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005921:Glomerulonephritis / Q000209:etiology*; D006469:Hemoptysis / Q000209:etiology; D006470:Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D007678:Kidney Glomerulus / Q000276:immunology*; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011650:Pulmonary Alveoli / Q000276:immunology; D012907:Smoking
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies