Abstract:
This is an analytical case control study conducted at KhartoumNorthduring the period from September2015 to May 2016to investigate the effect of cigarette smoking on the complete blood cell count (CBC) of healthy Sudanese cigarette smokers.
Ninety adulthealthy cigarette smokers and 70 healthy non cigarette smokers were enrolled in the study after a written consent had been obtained from them. The smokers were divided intogroups; according to their ages, the number of cigarettes consumed per day and according to the duration of smoking. Venous blood of 2.5 ml was collectedin EDTA containers and CBC was determined using automated hematology analyzer(Sysmex).
Cigarette smoker showed significantlyhigher values than the non-smokers for:
RBC (5.16±0.61 vs.4.91±0.85×1012/l), hemoglobin concentration (HB)(15.03±1.21 vs.13.92±1.23g/dl),HCT (46.42±8.34 vs.41.63±5.96 %),MCV (88.44±6.51 vs.84.79±5.76 fl),MCH (29.16±2.78 vs.27.99±2.24 pg) RDWSD (46.98±5.21 vs.43.95±3.89 fl) respectively.
Cigarette smokers recorded significantly (P≤0.05) higher values than the non-smokers with regard to TWBCs (7.16±2.41 vs.6.03±2.05 ×109 /l), absolute neutrophils count (4.28±2.11vs.3.27±1.60/µl) and absolutemonocytes count (0.62±0.22 vs.0.41±0.19/µl).
Smoking significantly(P≥0.05) reducedplatelets count (212.30±55.71 vs. 238.23±36.89×109/l).
Age group more than 50 years showed significantlylow HB concentration (13.15±0.21g/dl), while the group of less than 20 years age recorded the highestTWBCs count (8.64±3.07×109/l) and absoluteneutrophils count (5.17±1.86/µl).
Thegroup who consumed (1620 cigarettes per day) recordeda significant increase inRDWCV (15.00±1.91%).
The group with smoking durationof (27 years) showed significantly low HBconcentration (14.91±1.35g/dl) while the group of the smoking duration (1621years)showed asignificant increase on HCT values(47.15±2.86%).
It is concluded that smoking caused alterations on red blood cells, hemoglobin concentrations, hematocirit, mean cell volume, mean cell hemoglobin,red cell distribution width, total white blood cell count,absolute neutrophils count,absolute monocytes counts and platelets count.