Study on Blood Pressure in Male Cigarette Smokers

Cigarette smoking is a practice in which tobacco (leaf of Nicotina Tabacum) is burned and the smoke (heterogeneous aerosol) is tasted or inhaled. The systolic and diastolic blood pressures were significantly elevated among smokers as compared with non smokers. This study was done to assess the blood pressure in healthy male cigarette smokers in order to compare this parameter with healthy male non smokers. This comparative study was carried out in the Department of Physiology, Mymensingh Medical College, Mymensingh, Bangladesh, from July 2013 to June 2014. One hundred healthy male subjects (75 male were cigarette smokers as study group and 25 male were non smokers as control group) aged between 16 to 40 years were enrolled in this study. Blood pressure of the individual was measured by an android sphygmomanometer with appropriate size of cuff and stethoscope. Data were expressed as mean±SD and statistical significance of difference among the groups was calculated by unpaired student's 't' test. The mean±SD of systolic and diastolic blood pressure were higher in smoker group in comparison to the non smoker group. There were gradual increases in systolic and diastolic blood pressure in the smokers as the duration of smoking was increased. This study concludes cigarette smoking increase systolic and diastolic blood pressure in accordance with the duration of smoking.