Epidemiological analysis on the mechanism of cigarette smoking as a risk factor in cardiovascular diseases.

To clarify the mechanism involved in the contribution of cigarette smoking to increased mortality in patients of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), blood pressure (BP), serum cholesterol (Chl), triglycerides (TG), obesity index (OI), hematocrit (Ht), hemoglobin (Hb) etc, were examined in male smokers and non-smokers among 2500 inhabitants of a farming village in Japan. Smokers were classified by age and by the number (n) of cigarettes smoked per day into mild smokers (1 smaller than or equal to n < 20), moderate smokers (20 smaller than or equal to n < 30) and heavy smokers (n larger than or equal to 30). Ht was increased with the number of cigarettes smoked and was significantly higher in heavy smokers than in non-smokers, in most all the age groups. BP, Chl, TG, OI, Hb etc, showed no significant quantitative relation to the number of cigarettes smoked. This increase in Ht in smokers may represent a risk factor in increasing the morality rate in CVD.