Relationship of cigarette smoking to blood pressure and serum lipids

The relationship between cigarette smoking and blood pressure and serum lipids was studied in 1775 men aged 20-59 years, in non-drinkers and drinkers separately, controlling for body mass index and physical fitness (VO2max). While systolic blood pressure was not associated with cigarette smoking, diastolic blood pressure decreased with increasing levels of cigarette smoking in non-drinkers but not in drinkers. Total cholesterol was inversely associated with smoking cigarettes in drinkers and was not associated in non-drinkers. High density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol decreased with an increasing degree of cigarette consumption in non-drinkers but not in drinkers. An increase in total cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol ratio and triglyceride levels was positively associated with smoking cigarettes regardless of drinking habit. The present study suggests that cigarette smoking is a cardiovascular risk factor, partly due to its effect of increasing the atherogenic index, but it remains to be consolidated whether chronic smoking has an effect of lowering diastolic blood pressure.