title: Effects of cigarette smoking on morphological features of platelets in healthy men.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the effects of cigarette smoking on thrombocytopoiesis and some platelet morphological parameters in healthy male smokers.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this cross-sectional study, 542 consecutive healthy men (aged 20 to 88 years), referred to the laboratory of Fatemieh Hospital, Semnan, Iran, between November 2011 and November 2012 for checking up were enrolled. The subjects were divided into 2 groups of smokers (n=258 with frequency of 10 or more cigarette per day with more than 12 months duration of smoking) and non-smokers (n=284). The blood samples were extracted to examine values of platelet indices using an ABX Micros 60 cell counter.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Comparing platelet indices across smokers and non-smokers showed that the mean platelet count was statistically significantly higher in adult smokers than in nonsmokers (264.1 ± 81.2/µl versus 247.7 ± 83.9/µl, p=0.021), while the mean plateletcrit value was contrarily lower in the adult smokers (18.0 ± 12.0% versus 25.0 ± 10.0%, p less than 0.001). Other platelet indicators were not discrepant between the smokers and non-smokers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Cigarette smoking in healthy individuals results in significant and considerable effects on platelet morphological indices. The mean platelet count is significantly increased, and plateletcrit values are reduced, compared with non-smoking status.
authors.affiliation: Internal Medicine Department, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran. E-mail. mehrdadzahmatkesh@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Farahnaz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ghahremanfard
authors.forename: Vahid
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Semnani
authors.forename: Raheb
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ghorbani
authors.forename: Farhad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Malek
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Behzadfar
authors.forename: Mehrdad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zahmatkesh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001792:Blood Platelets; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012907:Smoking / Q000097:blood*; D014026:Nicotiana; D055815:Young Adult