The Nation - News from March 19, 1987

Although the benefits of giving up smoking are well known, doctors believe they have identified the first apparent health hazard of kicking the habit, an increased risk of a rare but serious intestinal disease called ulcerative colitis. Their research also confirms that people who continue to smoke have a somewhat lower risk of the disease than do those who never smoked. Dr. Edward J. Boyko, a researcher at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, reported his findings in today’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.