Table 1 Demographic, biochemical, and echocardiographic characteristics of the three groups.

Characteristics	Light cigarette smokers (n = 20)	Regular cigarette smokers (n = 20)	Controls (n = 22)	p Value
Age (years)	24.8 (5.0)	25.6 (6.4)	25.1 (4.2)	0.495
Male/female	8/12	11/9	10/12
BMI (kg/m2)	24.8 (3.0)	23.8 (3.5)	23.9 (3.3)	0.532
Smoked cigarette (pack×year)	7.43 (3.4)	9.10 (6.44)		0.31 (t test)
Baseline SBP (mm Hg)	117.5 (12.6)	119.5 (11.4)	112.9 (13.3)	0.208
Baseline DBP (mm Hg)	72.2 (8.0)	69.5 (9.4)	72.0 (7.7)	0.506
Baseline heart rate (bpm)	68.2 (11.0)	69.8 (8.4)	71.9 (11.0)	0.491
Glucose (mmol/l)	4.8 (0.2)	4.8 (0.3)	4.9 (0.3)	0.840
Total cholesterol (mmol/l)	4.05 (0.85)	4.10 (0.85)	4.20 (0.95)	0.923
Triglyceride (mmol/l)	1.18 (0.82)	1.18 (0.80)	1.20 (0.82)	0.997
HDL cholesterol (mmol/l)	1.10 (0.20)	1.10 (0.20)	1.15 (0.20)	0.977
LDL cholesterol (mmol/l)	2.40 (0.50)	2.40 (0.50)	2.50 (0.55)	0.811
hsCRP (mg/l)	1.51 (1.06)	1.57 (1.2)	1.76 (1.4	0.770
LVMI (g/m2)	69.0 (16.3)	76.3 (12.6)	75.1 (14.4)	0.240
Basal DPFV(cm/s)	24.6 (5.8)	24.9 (4.7)	22.5 (3.1)	0.223
Hyperaemic DPFV(cm/s)	63.7 (8.0)	64.55 (12.1)	69.8.8 (11.4)	0.143
CFVR	2.68 (0.50)*	2.65 (0.61)**	3.11 (0.53)	0.013
Mitral E max (cm/s)	88.7 (13.7)	85.5 (18.0)	82.5 (9.5)	0.341
Mitral A max (cm/s)	49.8 (8.3)	53.0 (7.1)	54.1 (7.5)	0.166
Mitral E/A ratio	1.7 (0.3)	1.6 (0.3)	1.6 (0.2)	0.225

BMI, body mass index; CFVR, coronary flow velocity reserve; DBP, diastolic blood pressure; DPFV, coronary diastolic peak flow velocity; HDL, high‐density lipoprotein; hsCRP, high sensitivity C reactive protein; LDL, low‐density lipoprotein; LVMI, left ventricular mass index; SBP, systolic blood pressure.

Post hoc Scheffé test results: *p = 0.049 versus control group; **p = 0.030 versus control group.

Results are shown as mean (SD).