Smoking habits as determinant of carotid IMT in gender specific models

B. Frigerio
S. Castelnuovo
G. De Giosa
E. Tremoli
C.R. Sirtori
D. Baldassarre
M. Amato

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Publication date

January 2006

DOI

10.1016/S1567-5688(06)81046-9

Publisher

Elsevier BV

Abstract

Objective: to evaluate the effect of smoking habits on carotid artery intima media thickness (IMT) in gender specific models. Methods: 936 women and 869 men were recruited for the study. Among men there were 358 never-, 298 former- and 213 current-smokers; corresponding figures for women were 755, 79, 102, respectively. Among the 692 former/current smokers, 299 men and 136 women were light-smokers (packyear<30) and 212 men and 45 women were heavy-smokers (packyear≥30). Results: In never smokers gender was a determinant of carotid IMT (0.92±0.27 vs 0.95±0.26; p=0.029). The inclusion into the analysis of former/current smokers strongly reduced the between sexes differences in IMT (p=ns, after data adjustment for confounding variables). In ...