Relationship between Smoking Status and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in Young Adult Males in Taiwan

Abstract

To evaluate smoking status and cardiovascular risk factors in young male adults in Taiwan. After cluster sampling, we performed a cross-sectional survey to assess smoking status, duration, and number of cigarettes smoked in 781 young adult males (mean age 20 years, range 18-24). Cardiovascular disease risk factors, including anthropometric factors, blood pressure, lipoproteins and apolipoprotein levels were also measured. In total 211 subjects (27.0%) had never smoked, 38 subjects (4.9%) were ex-smokers, and 532 (68.1%) still smoked cigarettes. The prevalence of smoking was higher than in 1989 and 1990 (54.8 and 59.4%, respectively). Current smokers had significantly higher serum triglyceride and lower high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels than subjects who had never smoked (56.2 versus 46.9 and 55.6 versus 59.0 mg/dl, respectively; P < 0.05 for both). No difference was found in other cardiovascular risk actors among subjects in the different smoking groups or among current smokers who had smoked for different periods of time or who smoked different numbers of cigarettes. These data suggest that the prevalence of smoking in young adult males in Taiwan has increased progressively. No differences were found in anthropometric factors or blood pressure among subjects of different smoking status. Abnormal lipoprotein levels (higher triglyceride and lower high-density lipoprotein cholesterol) were found in current smokers compared with non-smokers. A longer follow-up study will be needed to confirm whether the smoking status of these young adults can be correlated with the risk of cardiovascular disease.