Impact of smoking on erythrocyte indices and oxidative stress in acute myocardial infarction

Context: The free radicals generated by cigarette smoke are responsible for the production of excessive oxidative stress, causing damage to the cellular and subcellular components in acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Aims: The present study is aimed to evaluate the impact of smoking on erythrocytic oxidative stress and erythrocyte indices in patients with AMI. Materials and Methods: Two hundred consecutively admitted male patients with AMI were enrolled in our study and were subsequently divided into two groups, smokers and nonsmokers. All the subjects were evaluated for lipid profile, red blood cell (RBC) indices and the antioxidant enzyme activities-catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) were studied. Statistical Analysis Used: The independent sample t-test was used, and P values were calculated. Results: We found significantly high (P < 0.001) hematocrit, hemoglobin (Hb) concentration, mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) in smokers. While evaluating the antioxidant enzymes, we observed a reduction in GPX activity in the erythrocytes of smokers in comparison to nonsmokers and this was found to be highly significant (P < 0.001) whereas, CAT and SOD activities even though were reduced, they were not as highly significant (P = 0.023, P = 0.006 respectively) as GPX activity. Conclusions: Along with altered RBC indices, the erythrocyte GPX activity is more reliable and sensitive indicator of oxidative stress than CAT and SOD activities for the assessment of oxidative stress in AMI patients who are smokers