title: Impact of long-term exposure to cigarette smoking on skin microvascular function.
abstract: In order to evaluate the impact of cigarettes smoking and smokers' clinical characteristics on skin microvascular function, we measured the skin forearm blood flux, basally and during post-occlusive reactive hyperaemia, in 100 current smokers (mean age 51±11 years; range: 18 to 86 years) and in 66 healthy never-smokers matched for age and sex, by using laser Doppler fluximetry (LDF). Basal and post-ischemic LDF tracings were analyzed in the frequency domain within 0.009-0.02 Hz, 0.021-0.06 Hz and 0.061-0.2 Hz ranges, related to endothelial-dependent, sympathetic-dependent and myogenic-dependent vasomotion, respectively, using an adapted version of the Fourier analysis. The post-ischemic percentage change from baseline of the area under the LDF curve (AUC%) was significantly lower in smokers than in never-smokers [162.5% (139.3-183.0) vs 190.1% (156.3-216.8); p=0.00016]. Compared to controls, smokers also showed a reduced basal power spectral density (PSD) in the myogenic-dependent vasomotion (p=0.0034) and a reduced post-ischemic percentage increase in PSD of the endothelial-dependent vasomotion (p=0.0010) and sympathetic-dependent vasomotion (p=0.0016). An inverse relationship was observed in smokers between AUC% and smoking exposure duration (r=0.23, p=0.018), pack-years (r=0.33, p=0.0007), age (r=0.26, p=0.008) and body mass index (r=0.21, p=0.037). In the multiple linear regression model, pack-years was the only variable independently associated with AUC% (r=0.21, p=0.03). This study confirms that smoking is associated with cutaneous microvascular dysfunction and shows that the severity of this impairment is independently related to the duration and intensity of the exposure to smoking.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Italy; 1st Pulmonary Unit, Cardio-Thoracic and Vascular Department, University Hospital of Pisa, Italy. Electronic address: marco.rossi@int.med.unipi.it.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.affiliation: 1st Pulmonary Unit, Cardio-Thoracic and Vascular Department, University Hospital of Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pistelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pesce
authors.affiliation: 1st Pulmonary Unit, Cardio-Thoracic and Vascular Department, University Hospital of Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Aquilini
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Franzoni
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Santoro
authors.affiliation: 1st Pulmonary Unit, Cardio-Thoracic and Vascular Department, University Hospital of Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Carrozzi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019540:Area Under Curve; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D006184:Habits; D006801:Humans; D006940:Hyperemia / Q000503:physiopathology; D017078:Laser-Doppler Flowmetry; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008833:Microcirculation; D055806:Microvessels / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012867:Skin / Q000098:blood supply*; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013997:Time Factors; D014652:Vascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Blood flowmotion; Cigarette smoking; Cutaneous post-occlusive reactive hyperaemia; Fourier analysis; Laser Doppler flowmetry; Microvascular function; Skin; Vasomotion