"Effect of short-term cigarette smoking on insulin resistance and lipid profile in asymptomatic adults"

Present study examined the effect of short-term cigarette smoking on insulin resistance and lipid profile in asymptomatic healthy adults. This case control study comprised of 44 healthy male subjects in the age group of 18-40 yrs having BMI 25+3 and WHR < 1.0. Of these 22 smokers were included in the study group and 22 non-smokers in the control group. Subject selection was done such that one smoker and one non-smoker sibling or first degree male relative were selected from the same family. We compared fasting plasma glucose, insulin, lipid profile, and homeostatic model assessment index (HOMA Index) as a measure of insulin resistance between both the groups. Our observation showed that significantly higher values of serum glucose (133.36 +/- 23.45 mg/dl; P < 0.001), serum insulin (32.04 +/- 6.0 2 microU/ml; P < 0.001) and HOMA index (3.62 +/- 0.21; P < 0.001) were found in smokers as compared to non-smokers (serum glucose 86.95 +/- 19.32 mg/dl, insulin 20.09 +/- 4.8 microU/ml, HOMA index 3.29 +/- 0.30). No significant difference was observed for number of subjects having insulin resistance (HI > 3.8) and lipid profile in both the groups. Thus it appears that smokers are prone to develop hyperinsulenemia, hyperglycemia and the metabolic syndrome.