Lung Unit, Department of Internal Medicine, Steve Biko Academic Hospital, School of Medicine, University of Pretoria.
S Afr Med J. 2010 Jan 29;100(2):122-4. doi: 10.7196/samj.3462.
Water-pipe smoking is growing in popularity, especially among young people, because of the social nature of the smoking session and the assumption that the effects are less harmful than those of cigarette smoking. It has however been shown that a single water-pipe smoking session produces a 24-hour urinary cotinine level equivalent to smoking 10 cigarettes per day.
We aimed to measure carboxyhaemoglogin (COHb) blood levels before and after water-pipe and cigarette smoking sessions.
Self-confessed smokers older than 18 years (N=30) volunteered to smoke a water-pipe or a cigarette and have their blood COHb levels measured under controlled conditions.
Mean baseline COHb levels were 2.9% for the 15 cigarette smokers and 1.0% for the 15 water-pipe smokers. Levels increased by a mean of 481.7% in water-pipe smokers as opposed to 39.9% in cigarette smokers.
The study demonstrated that water-pipe smokers had significantly higher increases in blood COHb levels than cigarette smokers during a single smoking session.
测量水烟和香烟吸食前后血液碳氧血红蛋白（COHb）水平。
18 岁以上的自报吸烟者（N=30）自愿吸食水烟或香烟，并在受控条件下测量其血液 COHb 水平。
15 名香烟吸烟者的基线 COHb 水平平均为 2.9%，15 名水烟吸烟者的基线 COHb 水平平均为 1.0%。与香烟吸烟者的 39.9%相比，水烟吸烟者的 COHb 水平平均增加了 481.7%。
该研究表明，在单次吸烟过程中，水烟吸烟者的血液 COHb 水平升高幅度明显高于香烟吸烟者。
