Tobacco use is associated with accelerated clinical recurrence of Crohn's disease after surgically induced remission.

Goals: To study the association between tobacco exposure and postoperative clinical recurrence in Crohn's disease patients and quantify the time to clinical relapse following surgical resection.

Background: It is well accepted that cigarette smoking has a negative impact on postoperative course in Crohn's disease. However, the effect of smoking to hasten clinical recurrence has not been clearly delineated.