Effect of cigarette smoking on leucocytes in South Indians

A study was done on 200 male hospital employees of similar socio-economic status in the age group of 25-45 years. The smokers had a significantly higher total leucocyte count and there was a significant positive correlation (r = 0.388) between the quantity of cigarettes smoked and leucocyte count. Besides this a significant lymphocytosis and neutropenia was also observed. It is suggested that total leucocyte count may be taken as an index for the degree of smoking.