DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2013.v01i05.0023

Pages: 447-451

Reports have shown that sudden death is 2-4 times more often in heavy cigarette smokers than non smokers. Cigarettes smoke has been confirmed to contain toxicants that can disrupt normal metabolic processes. This study was carried out to assess the status of lipid fractions in smokers in a population in South West Nigeria. 25 males who were smoking 5 – 8 sticks of cigarette per day aged 20 – 45 years were selected as the study group, while 20 aged matched males who never smoked cigarette were selected as the control group. The concentrations of total cholesterol (TC), High density lipoprotein - cholesterol (HDL-C), triglyceride (TG), were determined using standard enzymatic colorimetric methods and low density lipoprotein - cholesterol (LDL-C) was calculated using Friedewalds formula. The concentrations of all the lipid fractions were significantly higher (p<0.05) in smokers than that of non smokers except HDL-C which was otherwise. The various ratios of LDL/HDL, TC/HDL, and TG/HDL were all higher in the smokers than in the non smokers. The percentage of LDL in total cholesterol was higher in smokers than non-smokers, but reverse was the case with HDL. There were significant and direct association between TG and LDL (r=0.902, p<0.01), TC(r=0.931, p<0.01) but inverse relationships were observed between TG and HDL (r=0.839, p<0.01). There was no significant difference between the BMI of the smokes and non smokers. The results of this study show that smokers are at much greater risk of developing atherosclerotic plaques and different heart diseases than non-smokers.