Associations Between Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Inflammation, and Progression of Carotid Atherosclerosis Among Smokers

Conclusion: Control of blood pressure may be an important factor to limit atherosclerosis progression in smokers, besides support for smoking cessation. Implications: Among 260 smokers aged 40–70 years with a mean smoking duration of 32 years, baseline SBP was associated with atherosclerosis progression over 3 years, as measured by CIMT (P = .01 at 3 years), independently of smoking variables and other CVRFs. The higher the SBP at baseline, the steeper was the CIMT increase over 3-year follow-up. Our findings emphasize the importance of focusing not only on smoking cessation among smokers, but to simultaneously control other CVRFs, particularly blood pressure, in order to prevent future cardiovascular disease.
Source: Nicotine and Tobacco Research - Category: Addiction Authors: Tags: Brief Report Source Type: research