Smoking Delays Fracture Healing

A new study shows that smoking delays chondrogenesis and healing in a mouse model of fracture healing.

Researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, MO, USA) studied a group of 35 mice divided into a smoking group--which was exposed to cigarette smoke six days per week for a month--and a control group. Surgery was performed on all the mice to achieve a simple closed tibial fracture. The researchers used type II collagen expression as a marker of cartilage formation (chondrogenesis) during healing.

The researchers found that smoking delayed fracture healing and that it began at the early stages of the healing process, although over time it did not inhibit normal healing. Specifically, they were able to show that there was a delay in the development of mature cartilage cells in the mice exposed to cigarette smoke. The results were published in the December 2006 issue of the Journal of Orthopaedic Research.

"Clinically, if specific events can be identified, smoking cessation in humans, even temporarily, may improve or speed the healing process after injury and decrease the
significant morbidity associated with cigarette smoking during fracture healing,” concluded lead researcher Dr. Hossam B. El-Zawawy and colleagues from the department of orthopedic surgery at Washington University.

Cigarette smoking has been shown to have harmful effects on a variety of orthopedic conditions. Studies have shown that the numerous toxins contained in cigarette smoke can undermine fracture and ligament repair following injury; in addition, smokers have higher rates of hip fracture, fracture-healing problems, bone infections, and impaired soft tissue wound healing.



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Washington University School of Medicine