Abstract

Background: Smoking has been established as a chief causative factor for cardiovascular diseases, inflammatory disorders, and oxidative stress stimulation. It is known that the total peripheral blood leukocyte count increases by cigarette smoking; however, its influence on platelet parameters is largely unknown. Early detection of thromboembolic diseases can be achieved by the potentially useful platelet indices. Enhanced activity is shown by platelets with increased volume when compared withplateletswithsmaller volume.Hence,meanplateletvolume(MPV)canactasaindicatorforplateletactivity. Aimsand
Objective:Tostudytheimpactof cigarette smokingonplateletparameters.MaterialsandMethods: Thiscross- sectional study included 50 healthy young male cigarette smokers and 50 healthy male nonsmokers in the age range of 18–50 years at SRM Medical College, Tamil Nadu, India, after approval by the institutional ethical committee. Subjects with acuteillnessanddiabetesmellitusandthoseonantiplateletdrugswereexcluded.Historyregardingcurrentsmokingstatus, number of cigarettes smoked per day, pack-years of smoking, and years since quitting was noted. Complete blood count includingplateletindicessuchasplateletcount,MPV,plateletdistributionwidth(PDW),plateletlargecellratio(P-LCR),and plateletcrit (PCT) were determined. On the basis of their smoking characteristics, smokers were grouped as mild, moderate, and heavy. Result: Compared with nonsmokers, smokers showed significantly high values of MPV, and PDW (Po 0.05). MPV,PDW,andP-LCRwerefoundtobepositivelyassociatedwithintensityofsmoking,pack-year,anddurationofsmoking. Conclusion: The smokers showed higher MPV, PDW, and P-LCR, which might forecast possible high risk for developing thromboembolic disease in smokers.