Evaluation of aortic stiffness in tobacco-smoking adolescents

Purpose: To measure the aortic stiffness in tobacco-smoking adolescents and to investigate its relationship to tobacco smoke. Methods: Aortic strain (S), pressure strain elastic modulus (E-p), and normalized E-p (E-p*) in tobacco-smoking adolescents and the healthy control group were measured by a sphygmomanometer with cuff and transthoracic echocardiography. The study group consisted of 30 healthy cases (M/F: 27/3) as a control group and 30 tobacco-smoking volunteer adolescents (M/F: 28/2). Unpaired Student's t-test was used for comparison of these groups. Results: The mean ages were 16.1 +/- 1.8 years and 16.2 +/- 1.4 years, respectively. The number of cigarettes smoked per day was 31 +/- 7.1 and the duration of smoking was 3.4 +/- 1.1 years. S, E-p and E-p* measurements of tobacco smokers were different than the control groups' and this difference was statistically significant. S values were significantly higher in nonsmokers than in smokers; whereas E-p and E-p* values were significantly higher in smoker group. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that measurement of aortic stiffness with S, E-p, and E-p,* can be used as an early indicator of atherosclerosis in tobacco-smoking adolescents. (C) Society for Adolescent Medicine, 2004