INTRODUCTION: The CRP is known to be an acute phase reactant, but with new high sensitivity assay methods it appears that CRP is also a marker of chronic inflammation. This study was to investigate whether smoking acts as a systemic disease and to see if there is a relation between CRP values and smoking. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 762 persons were studied, with a mean age of 41.74+/-10.03 years. 200 were smokers, 344 were non-smokers and 218 were ex-smokers. The following details were noted in the smoking history: cigarette brand, number of cigarettes/day, number of years smoking and milligrams of nicotine and tar. In the case of ex-smokers, the number of years since giving up smoking was noted. The CRP was determined using the high sensitive Tina-Quant assay. Windows SPSS version 11.0 software was used. RESULTS: The CRP values showed statistically significant differences between the smoking and non-smoking groups. A statistically significant increase in CRP was observed in relation to number of cigarettes/day (p=0.001), mg of nicotine (p=0.017), mg of tar (p=0.020) and number of years of smoking (p=0.0001). However, when analysing the relation between CRP and the number of years since giving up smoking, there was a negative curve of 0.02 in the equation, but this was not of statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: CRP levels rise when there is an increase in number of cigarettes/day, mg of nicotine and tar and years smoking.
INTRODUCTION: The CRP is known to be an acute phase reactant, but with new high sensitivity assay methods it appears that CRP is also a marker of chronic inflammation. This study was to investigate whether smoking acts as a systemic disease and to see if there is a relation between CRP values and smoking. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 762 persons were studied, with a mean age of 41.74+/-10.03 years. 200 were smokers, 344 were non-smokers and 218 were ex-smokers. The following details were noted in the smoking history: cigarette brand, number of cigarettes/day, number of years smoking and milligrams of nicotine and tar. In the case of ex-smokers, the number of years since giving up smoking was noted. The CRP was determined using the high sensitive Tina-Quant assay. Windows SPSS version 11.0 software was used. RESULTS: The CRP values showed statistically significant differences between the smoking and non-smoking groups. A statistically significant increase in CRP was observed in relation to number of cigarettes/day (p=0.001), mg of nicotine (p=0.017), mg of tar (p=0.020) and number of years of smoking (p=0.0001). However, when analysing the relation between CRP and the number of years since giving up smoking, there was a negative curve of 0.02 in the equation, but this was not of statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: CRP levels rise when there is an increase in number of cigarettes/day, mg of nicotine and tar and years smoking.
Authors: Yi Zhang; Chao Zeng; Jie Wei; Hui Li; Tuo Yang; Ye Yang; Zhen-han Deng; Xiang Ding; Guanghua Lei Journal: BMJ Open Date: 2016-03-11 Impact factor: 2.692