BackgroundTuberculosis (TB) and tobacco use are two major alarming global health issues that tend to be co-prevalent in many developing countries and various surveys have provided evidence on their entangled associations. Accordingly, it is strongly suggested that smoking cessation be incorporated in TB control programs. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of two smoking cessation methods among newly-diagnosed pulmonary TB patients.MethodsA total of 210 newly-diagnosed pulmonary TB patients from Tehran, Iran with smoking habits were included in this randomized clinical trial during 2012–2013. Patients were assigned to three groups of control (just TB medical treatment), brief advice (TB medical treatment plus individualized counseling sessions of quitting behavioral therapy) and combined intervention (TB medical treatment plus individualized counseling sessions of quitting behavioral therapy plus medical treatment with slow release bupropion). Patients’ abstinence was followed at six time point during six months. Data were analyzed by SPSS v.22 using Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) model.ResultsAbstinance rate at the end of six months were 71.7 % for combined intervention group, 33.9 % for brief advice group and 9.8 % for the control group (p < 0.001). Combined intervention group and brief advice group respectively had 35 times (p < 0.001, OR = 35.26, 95 % CI = 13.77–90.32) and 7 times (p < 0.001, OR = 7.14, 95 % CI = 2.72–18.72) more odds of not being an active smoker at each time point, compared to the control group.ConclusionConsidering the prevalence and importance of TB and the substantial influence of these preventive measures on controlling tobacco use, application of such programs is recommended.Trial registrationThe survey was registered in the Iranian registry of clinical trials website (irct.ir) in August 31, 2013 with IRCT ID: IRCT2013062613783N1.

Background Hypertension is an emerging disease in children and adolescents resulting in future morbidities. Cigarette smoking is one of the most studied contributing factors in this regard; however, there are contradictory results among different studies. Therefore, the present meta-analysis tends to assess the relationship between passive exposure to cigarette smoke and blood pressure in children and adolescents. Method Medline, Embase, Scopus, EBSCO, and Web of Sciences were systematically reviewed for observational studies up to May, 2017, in which the relationship between cigarette smoking and hypertension were assessed in children and adolescents. The meta-analysis was performed with a fixed effect or random effects model according to the heterogeneity. Results Twenty-nine studies were included in present meta-analysis incorporating 192,067 children and adolescents. Active smoking (pooled OR = 0.92; 95% CI: 0.79 to 1.05) or passive exposure to cigarette smoke (pooled OR = 1.01; 95% CI: 0.93 to 1.10) were not associated with developing hypertension in the study population. Despite the fact that active cigarette smoking did not significantly affect absolute level of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, it was shown that passive exposure to cigarette smoke leads to a significant increase in absolute level of systolic blood pressure (pooled coefficient = 0.26; 95% CI: 0.12 to 0.39). Conclusion Both active and passive cigarette smoking were not associated with developing hypertension in children and adolescents. However, passive cigarette smoke was associated with higher level of systolic blood pressure in children and adolescents.

Cure rates in patients newly diagnosed with pulmonary TB were higher in non-smokers and quitters at 2 months than in smokers. Smoking cessation advice should be included in TB control programmes.