title: Smoking cessation, alcohol intake and transient increase in the risk of metabolic syndrome among Japanese smokers at one health checkup institution.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is potentially effective measures to identify individuals at risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and type 2 diabetes. To verify the hypothesis that smoking cessation may increase the risk of MetS, a follow-up study taking drinking habit into account was conducted for the examinees at one health checkup institution.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects were the examinees who visited the Institution for Disease Prevention and Health Checkup, Seirei Mikatabara Hospital for annual health checkup from January 2003 to December 2006. Among them, 5,872 smokers (5,479 men, 93.3%) free from MetS at the first year in two consecutive years were selected. For the long term follow-up, the risk of MetS among those who maintained their nonsmoking status for 1 or 2 additional years was evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Relative to non-quitters, quitters showed a significantly elevated adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of MetS in two consecutive years (aHR = 2.09, 95% confidence interval: 1.43-3.04, P < 0.001). The aHR was higher among the quitters who had a drinking habit at the first year (aHR = 2.42, 95% CI: 1.48-3.94, P < 0.001). Analyses for 1 or 2 additional years of follow-up revealed that this significant increase in risk of MetS was transient.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study revealed that smoking cessation elevated the risk of MetS significantly, especially among drinkers. Although this detrimental effect of smoking cessation was found to be during only a short term, our results suggested that we should take measures, presumably including interventions for alcohol cessation, not to expose smoking quitters to this adverse effect. Further investigations are required to confirm our findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine/Biostatistics and Medical Decision Making, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan. a-hishi@med.nagoya-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Asahi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hishida
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Koyama
authors.forename: Akiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tomota
authors.forename: Shirou
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Katase
authors.forename: Yatami
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Asai
authors.forename: Nobuyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hamajima
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D016540:Smoking Cessation