“Chronic” cigarette smoking and flow properties of blood

Abstract

The flow properties of blood of 60 healthy young smokers (30 female and 30 male, average age 24,4 years and 25,6 years resp.) have been compared with the flow properties of blood obtained from 60 healthy nonsmokers (30 female, average age 23,7 years and 30 male, average age 27,2 years). Statistically significant differences were found for the hematocrit values in both sexes and for the relative whole blood viscosity in the men’s group; relative whole blood viscosity in the women’s group and the other rheological parameters as relative plasma viscosity, RBC filtration rate and RBC aggregation, showed some discrepancy but not statistically significant differences. The cause for the differences between the results presented and those of other authors might be seen in different measuring devices as well as in different selection criteria for the investigated volunteers.