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Chi Chiu Leung, MBBS; Tai Hing Lam, MD; Wing Wai Yew, MBBS

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

We read with great interest the recent meta-analysis by Bates et al¹ on the risk of tuberculosis from exposure to tobacco smoke.¹ Because both smoking and tuberculosis are still major killers, especially in developing countries, such a meta-analysis has been long awaited. However, a few points might warrant further discussion.

In the analysis by Bates et al,¹ smoking increases the relative risk (RR) of both tuberculosis infection (RR, 1.73, as measured by a positive tuberculin skin test [TST] result) and disease (RR, 2.33-2.66), and the authors therefore estimated the net RR for disease development in an infected population to be 1.4 to 1.6. However, the only cohort study included by Bates et al¹ for the analysis of disease development refers to elderly subjects in Hong Kong.^1-2 With the huge past burden of tuberculosis, a very high background prevalence . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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RELATED LETTER

Smoking and Tuberculosis: Infection, Disease, and Mortality—Reply
Michael N. Bates, Asheena Khalakdina, Madhukar Pai, and Kirk R. Smith
Arch Intern Med. 2007;167(18):2009.
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Risk of Tuberculosis From Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Michael N. Bates, Asheena Khalakdina, Madhukar Pai, Lisa Chang, Fernanda Lessa, and Kirk R. Smith
Arch Intern Med. 2007;167(4):335-342.
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