title: Association between cigarette smoking, metabolic syndrome, and carotid arteriosclerosis in Japanese individuals.
abstract: Cigarette smoking is associated with increased insulin resistance and other metabolic abnormalities. Here, we investigate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in cigarette smokers and people who never smoked by analyzing cross-sectional data of 5033 subjects aged between 35 and 65 years who underwent general health screening. Both former and current smoking was associated with an increased incidence of metabolic syndrome defined by modified-National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) criteria with odds ratios of 1.77 (95% CI 1.42-2.22, P < 0.0001) and 2.38 (95% CI 1.95-2.91, P < 0.0001), respectively. In both former and current smokers, prevalence of metabolic syndrome increased when the duration of cigarette smoking was > or = 10 years. The positive association between metabolic syndrome and smoking was only partially reversed even 5 years after quitting. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that metabolic syndrome was an independent risk factor for carotid plaque with an odds ratio of 1.72 (95% CI 1.43-2.08, P < 0.0001). On the other hand, when limited to individuals without metabolic syndrome, former and current smoking was still found to be associated with carotid plaque with odds ratios of 1.49 (95% CI 1.15-1.92, P = 0.0023) and 1.57 (95% CI 1.22-2.03, P = 0.0005), respectively, in men. Collectively, these data suggest that the atherogenic consequences of smoking may, at least in part, be explained by its association with metabolic syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine, Bunkyo-ku Hongo 7-3-1, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan. nobuishizaka-tky@umin.ac.jp
authors.forename: Nobukazu
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ishizaka
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ishizaka
authors.forename: Ei-Ichi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Toda
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.forename: Ryozo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nagai
authors.forename: Minoru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yamakado
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data