The effect of smoking and oral contraceptives on the urinary excretion of epinephrine and norepinephrine.
Eight smokers and seven nonsmokers between the ages of 20 and 38 years were studied. None of these patients was pregnant. Three smokers and two nonsmokers were not taking oral contraceptives, as contrasted by three nonsmokers and four smokers taking oral contraceptives. Results approached statistical significance for urinary norepinephrine (p = 0.15) and epinephrine (p = 0.07) when the groups were compared. The values for nonsmoking/noncontraception tended to be low but, unexpectedly, the values for smoking/contraception also were low. When the smoking subjects (six of seven) stopped there was a significant decline in norepinephrine (p = 0.02) and the epinephrine decline approached significance (p = 0.08). The study does not show any synergistic effect of oral contraceptives and smoking but demonstrates that the smoker can diminish stimulation of the adrenal gland (epinephrine) and sympathetic nervous system (norepinephrine) if she will stop smoking.
D000328:Adult; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003280:Contraceptives, Oral, Synthetic / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004357:Drug Synergism; D004837:Epinephrine / Q000652:urine*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009538:Nicotine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000652:urine*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012907:Smoking / Q000150:complications*
D003276:Contraceptives, Oral; D003280:Contraceptives, Oral, Synthetic; D009538:Nicotine; D009638:Norepinephrine; D004837:Epinephrine