Affects of smoking tested in the young and healthy

Smoking :: Affects of smoking tested in the young and healthy

A new study shows that left ventricular (LV) diastolic function, which is often impaired by age or obesity, is also affected by smoking in the young and physically fit.

Researchers from Poland examined 66 volunteers, who were all under the age of 40 and had a body mass index less than 25, and split them into two groups according to smoking status: 33 healthy smokers and 33 non-smokers.

Members of the healthy smokers group received an echocardiographic examination before and after smoking one cigarette, and researchers then evaluated pulmonary venous flow (PVF) and tricuspid valve flow (TVF) to assess diastolic function.

Results showed that mitral valve flow (MVF) and PVF in the healthy smokers demonstrated LV relaxation impairment, and that TVF showed right ventricular relaxation impairment in healthy smokers, before and after smoking one cigarette. Heart rate was also shown to be significantly higher in healthy smokers after smoking a cigarette, when compared with the healthy smokers before smoking a cigarette and nonsmokers. This study appears in the April issue of CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians.