Effects of smoking on orthopaedic disorders and surgery

It is well known that cigarette smoking is implicated in the etiology of cardiovascular disease, lung disease and a multitude of other types of cancer as well. Smoking is the leading avoidable cause of mortality and morbidity. The orthopaedic community is aware of the relation between smoking and its impact on the results of conservative and surgical treatment. It has been shown that smoking may adversely affect bone metabolism, lumbar disk disorders, fracture and wound healing. Most of the available data did provide varying degrees of correlation between smoking and orthopaedic conditions. In this review we attempted to summarize and present the clinical data regarding smoking and its impact on orthopaedic disorders and surgery.