Electronic Diary Monitoring for Hypertension Post Stroke

Abstract

Background: We tried to understand whether or not there is a long term effect of smoking on the body weight. Method: Consecutive daily smokers at least with a history of one pack-year and age and sex-matched non-smokers were studied. Results: The study included 247 smokers (173 males) and 167 non-smokers (112 males). The mean age of smokers was 46.2 years, and 70.0% of them were males. Plasma triglycerides (163.1 versus 151.3 mg/dL, p < 0.05), low density lipoproteins (LDL) (123.8 versus 117.5 mg/dL, p < 0.05), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) (10.6 versus 9.3 mm/h, p < 0.05), and C-reactive protein (CRP) (2.3 versus 2.0 mg/L, p < 0.05) were higher in the smokers. Whereas high density lipoproteins (HDL) (40.9 versus 44.0 mg/dL, p < 0.05) and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) (102.3 versus 111.6 mg/dL, p = 0.007) values and prevalence of diabetes mellitus (8.9% versus 14.3%, p < 0.05) were lower in the smokers. Interestingly, the body weight (76.1 versus 74.7 kg) and body mass index (BMI) (26.6 versus 26.5 kg/ m 2 ) were higher in the smokers, nonsignificantly ( p > 0.05 for both). Smokers had a mean history of 20.5 ± 15.0 (1-100) pack years. Conclusion: Smoking may cause a low-grade systemic inflammation on vascular endothelium terminating with an accelerated atherosclerosis-induced end-organ insufficiencies all over the body. Plasma triglycerides, LDL, ESR, and CRP may be positive whereas HDL and FPG negative acute phase reactants indicating such inflammatory effects in the body. Probably due to the low-grade nature of inflammation caused by smoking, the body weight and BMI were not suppressed in the smokers in long term.