Hidradenitis and smoking – reply from authors

Abstract

We thank Saleem et al., for providing commentary on a relevant aspect of statistical analysis and interpretation as it relates to our study, the primary objective for which was to assess the directionality and strength of relationship between tobacco smoking (TS) and hidradenitis suppurativa (HS).¹ To our knowledge, no previous population-based study has evaluated the effect of TS on actual incidence of disease. While we were able to establish that smokers had twice the adjusted likelihood of incident disease compared to non-smokers, we agree that relative measures of risk may overestimate the effect of an exposure, particularly when the outcome of interest is rare.

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