Cigarette smoking, serum lipids and angiographically-assessed coronary artery disease.

Seventy-six patients underwent cardiac catheterization for evaluation of suspected coronary artery disease and their serum lipid fractions and cigarette smoking habits were evaluated in order to determine the incidence of these risk factors on coronary artery disease. Results showed that patients with angiography defined coronary artery disease (CAD) presented disturbances in their serum lipid fractions, especially LDL-cholesterol, apoprotein B and the ratio HDL-C/(TC-HDL-C). Coronary lesions from smokers were higher when compared with matched non smokers with CAD. Cessation of smoking for two years did not induce regression of CAD among past smokers.