Effect of Cigarette Smoking on Plasma Fibrinogen and Platelet Count

Abstract

Objective: Cigarette smoking is one of the major lifestyle factors influencing the health of human beings. Fibrinogen is the major plasma protein coagulation factor. Higher plasma fibrinogen concentrations are associated with cardiovascular diseases. Material & Methods: One hundred twenty healthy male smokers and one hundred twenty healthy male non-smokers among hospital employees and people from surrounding areas of Narayana Medical College, Nellore (India) were studied. The platelet count was done using Beckman Coulter Automatic Analyzer; AcT 5diffCP.Assay for plasma fibrinogen was performed using turbido-metric immunoassay. Results: The mean plasma fibrinogen concentration for smokers is 3.78 gms/L and for non-smokers 3.02 gms/L. The mean platelet count for smokers is 257325 per mm3 and for non-smokers 215483.3 per mm3. The difference between mean plasma fibrinogen and platelet count of smokers and non-smokers was statistically significant (p<0.0001). Conclusion: Thus we concluded that in smokers plasma fibrinogen concentration and platelet count increase significantly. Regular monitoring of these two parameters in smokers is advised DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ajms.v2i3.4261 Asian Journal of Medical Sciences 2 (2011) 181-184