Left ventricular function after cigarette smoking by chronic smokers: comparison of normal subjects and patients with coronary artery disease.

Twenty normal subjects and 25 patients with coronary artery disease underwent systolic time interval analysis before and after rapidly smoking two cigarettes. A slight increase in heart rate and arterial pressure was seen in both groups. In patients with coronary artery disease, preejection period/left ventricular ejection time ratio increased; in normal subjects it decreased. Left ventricular performance is diminished after cigarette smoking among subjects who have preexisting significant coronary artery disease.