Should the threshold for expired-air carbon monoxide concentration as a means of verifying self-reported smoking abstinence be reduced in clinical treatment programmes?
Reducing the threshold for expired-air carbon monoxide concentrations to verify claimed smoking abstinence from 10 ppm to 5 ppm makes minimal difference to documented success rates in Malaysian smoker's clinic patients. Reducing to 3 ppm decreases success rates slightly. Predictors of success at stopping appear to be unaffected by the threshold used.
The CTLA-4 polymorphic G allele, probably by interfering with the immune response, may confer susceptibility to ALD and, in homozygous state, to alcoholic cirrhosis.