Hamburg - The progress of Crohn's disease, a chronic inflammatory disease of the intestines, exacerbates dramatically in smokers, according to a professor at Goethe University in Frankfurt.

Smokers, who contract Crohn's disease, must undergo surgery and suffer the dangerous advanced stages of the disease more commonly than non-smokers, said Professor Axel Dignass at a recent congress of Europe's Crohn disease and colitis organization in Hamburg. In most people with Crohn's disease the last section of the small intestine is affected.

The cause of the disease has not been completely understood. A genetic disposition combined with environmental factors such as nutrition, stress, poor hygiene or the pill are considered likely.

It is significant that smoking has a particularly negative affect on the intestinal membrane, which is already inflamed in people with the disease, and the immune system. According to Dignass, smoking is among the most adverse influences on the disease, which typically appears in people between the ages of 20 and 40. (dpa)