Abstract
Background
To date, there has been no study comparing the possible acute effects on coronary microvascular functions of smoking light cigarettes (those with low tar and nicotine yield) and regular cigarettes.
Methods
Twenty healthy volunteers (8 women and 12 men; mean age, 25.8 ± 5.8 years) were included in a single‐blind, open‐label, cross‐over study to compare the effects of smoking light cigarettes (containing 0.6 mg nicotine, 8 mg tar, 9 mg carbon monoxide) and smoking regular cigarettes (containing 0.9 mg nicotine, 12 mg tar, 12 mg carbon monoxide) on coronary flow reserve (CFR). For each participant, CFR values were measured at baseline, after smoking 2 regular or light cigarettes, and 15 days later after smoking 2 cigarettes of the other kind.
Results
After smoking 2 cigarettes, CFR values declined from 2.8 ± 0.56 (baseline) to 2.31 ± 0.51 after smoking light cigarettes (P = .003), and from 2.8 ± 0.56 (baseline) to 2.21 ± 0.45 after smoking regular cigarettes (P < .001). After smoking light and regular cigarettes, CFR values were similar (P = .678).
Conclusions
Light cigarette smoking has similar acute detrimental effects on coronary microvascular function and CFR as does regular cigarette smoking. Copyright © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (1.6 MB).
References
- 1. Neunteufl T, Heher S, Kostner K, et al. Contribution of nicotine to acute endothelial dysfunction in long‐term smokers. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2002; 39: 251–256. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 2. Heliovaara M, Karvonen MJ, Vilhunen R, Punsar S. Smoking, carbon monoxide, and atherosclerotic diseases. Br Med J. 1978; 1: 268–270. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 3. Pittilo, MR . Cigarette smoking, endothelial injury and cardiovascular disease. Int J Exp Pathol. 2000; 1: 219–230. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 4. Czernin J, Waldherr C. Cigarette smoking and coronary blood flow. Prog Cardiovasc Dis. 2003; 45: 395–404. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 5. Esen AM, Barutcu I, Acar M, et al. Effect of smoking on endothelial function and wall thickness of brachial artery. Circ J. 2004; 68: 1123–1126. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 6. Quillen JE, Rossen JD, Oskarsson HJ, et al. Acute effect of cigarette smoking on the coronary circulation: constriction of epicardial and resistance vessels. J Am Coll Cardiol. 1993; 22: 642–647. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 7. Hamasaki H, Sato J, Masuda H, et al. Effect of nicotine on the intimal hyperplasia after endothelial removal of the rabbit carotid artery. Gen Pharmacol. 1997; 28: 653–659. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 8. Davis JW, Shelton L, Eigenberg DA, Hignite CE, Watanabe IS. Effects of tobacco and non‐tobacco cigarette smoking on endothelium and platelets. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 1985; 37: 529–533. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 9. Barua RS, Ambrose JA, Eales‐Reynolds LJ, et al. Heavy and light cigarette smokers have similar dysfunction of endothelial vasoregulatory activity: an in vivo and in vitro correlation. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2002; 39: 1758–1763. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 10. Pomerleau CS, Pomerleau OF, Snedecor SM, Mehringer AM. Defining a never‐smoker: results from the nonsmokers survey. Addict Behav. 2004; 29: 1149–1154. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 11. Caiati C, Zedda N, Montaldo C, Montisci R, Iliceto S. Contrast‐enhanced transthoracic second harmonic echo Doppler with adenosine: a noninvasive, rapid and effective method for coronary flow reserve assessment. J Am Coll Cardiol. 1999; 34: 122–130. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 12. Lambertz H, Tries HP, Stein T, Lethen H. Noninvasive assessment of coronary flow reserve with transthoracic signal‐enhanced Doppler echocardiography. J Am Soc Echocardiogr. 1999; 12: 186–195. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 13. Korcarz CE, Stein JH. Noninvasive assessment of coronary flow reserve by echocardiography: technical considerations. J Am Soc Echocardiogr. 2004; 17: 704–707. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 14. Koskenvuo JW, Saraste M, Niemi P, et al. Correlation of transthoracic Doppler echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging in measuring left anterior descending artery flow velocity and time‐course of dipyridamole‐induced coronary flow increase. Scand J Clin Lab Invest. 2003; 63: 65–72. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 15. Saraste M, Koskenvuo J, Knuuti J, et al. Coronary flow reserve: measurement with transthoracic Doppler echocardiography is reproducible and comparable with positron emission tomography. Clin Physiol. 2001; 21: 114–122. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 16. Kozlowski LT, Goldberg ME, Yost BA, et al. Smokers' misperceptions of light and ultra‐light cigarettes may keep them smoking. Am J Prev Med. 1998; 15: 9–16. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 17. Kozlowski LT, Heatherton TF, Frecker RC, Nolte HE. Self‐selected blocking of vents on low‐yield cigarettes. Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 1989; 33: 815–819. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 18. Kozlowski LT, Rickert WS, Pope MA, Robinson JC, Frecker RC. Estimating the yield to smokers of tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide from the ‘lowest yield’ ventilated filter‐cigarettes. Br J Addict. 1982; 77: 159–165. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 19. Borland R, Yong HH, King B, et al. Use of and beliefs about light cigarettes in four countries: findings from the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Survey. Nicotine Tob Res. 2004; 6: S311–S321. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 20. Tanaka T, Oka Y, Tawara I, Sada T, Kira Y. Acute effects of nicotine content in cigarettes on coronary flow velocity and coronary flow reserve in men. Am J Cardiol. 1998; 82: 1275–1278, A9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 21. Papamichael CM, Aznaouridis KA, Stamatelopoulos KS, et al. Endothelial dysfunction and type of cigarette smoked: the impact of ‘light’ versus regular cigarette smoking. Vasc Med. 2004; 9: 103–105. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]