Effect of Cigarette Smoking on Blood Levels of Lipid and Atherogenic Lipid Ratios

Abstract

Introduction: Lipid profile changes are a major risk factor for the cardiovascular diseases with the increase in sedentary life style and smoking. Smoking may lead to alter the normal plasma lipoprotein pattern. Aim: To evaluate the lipid profile and atherogenic lipid ratios in the cigarette smokers. Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted on 480 healthy male individuals of which (n=340) were cigarette smokers and compared with the healthy age matched non-obese nonsmokers as controls (n=140). The lipid profile test was performed using the automated analyser and the atherogenic lipid ratios were calculated on excel. Statistical analysis was done using t-test on sophisticated tool. Results: Study shows that there was significantly increased levels of total cholesterol, Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (LDL-C), Triglyceride (TG), Very Low Density Lipoprotein (VLDL) in smokers and significantly lower levels of High Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL-C). The atherogenic ratios were statistically highly significant among the cigarette smokers compared to the non-smokers, showing the risk of the cardiac events higher among the smokers. Conclusion: Smokers had impaired lipid profile and higher atherogenic lipid ratios. This knowledge can be used to identify the increased risk of cardiovascular disease in clinical practice in patients with history of smoking. These finding add another health enhancing benefits for the smokers by cessation and educating them about ill events.

Keywords

• cardiovascular disease
• high density lipoprotein
• lipid profile
• low density lipoprotein
• serum total cholesterol
• triglyceride