Chronic Cigarette Smoking

Abstract

The effect of chronic cigarette smoking upon adrenocortical and sympathoadrenomedullary activity was studied in 94 normal males. Plasma cortisol levels at 8 AM and 4 PM obtained in six habitual smokers of one to two packs per day and in six nonsmokers were comparable and showed a normal circadian variation. Twenty-four hour urinary 17-hydroxycorticosteroid, 11-hydroxycorticosteroid, cortisol, and catecholamine excretion were assayed in 25 habitual smokers of one-half to one pack per day, 23 smokers of one to two packs per day, and in 34 nonsmokers. No significant differences were noted. Ordinary cigarette smoking does not appear to interfere with clinical assessment of pituitary-adrenocortical and sympathoadrenomedullary activity. Also, these data fail to implicate overactivity of these systems in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular and other disorders found in the habitual cigarette smoker of less than two packs per day.