title: Relationship between smoking and a new index of arterial stiffness, the cardio-ankle vascular index, in male workers: a cross-sectional study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cigarette smoking is one of the major factors that increases arterial stiffness. The purpose of this study was to examine further the relationship between smoking status and arterial stiffness using a new index, the cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI), in male Japanese workers.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study included 4,729 male Japanese workers undergoing annual health checkups. CAVI was measured at the time of the annual health checkup between April 2007 and March 2008. The subjects were divided into three groups, smokers (n = 1,913), former smokers (n = 1,481) and non-smokers (n = 1,348) according to their responses to a questionnaire. We compared the CAVI in the three groups after adjusting for age. Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the association between CAVI and the number of cigarettes smoked per day in order to examine whether there was a dose-response relationship between smoking and CAVI.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean CAVI for each group was 7.81 ± 0.02 for smokers, 7.70 ± 0.02 for former smokers and 7.64 ± 0.02 for non-smokers. A significant difference was observed between each group. According to the results of multiple regression analysis, the standardized β of the number of cigarettes smoked per day was 0.09 (p < 0.01). This confirmed a positive association with CAVI.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study demonstrated that there is a significant association between the number of cigarettes smoked per day and arterial stiffness, as measured by CAVI.
authors: Department of Work Systems and Health, Institute of Industrial Ecological Science, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, 1-1 Iseigaoka, Kitakyusyu, 811-4341 Fukuoka, Japan. k-hata@med.uoeh-u.ac.jp.
authors: Koichi
authors: K
authors: Hata
authors: Toru
authors: T
authors: Nakagawa
authors: Mitsuhito
authors: M
authors: Mizuno
authors: Nobuaki
authors: N
authors: Yanagi
authors: Hiroko
authors: H
authors: Kitamura
authors: Takeshi
authors: T
authors: Hayashi
authors: Masataka
authors: M
authors: Irokawa
authors: Akira
authors: A
authors: Ogami