Evaluation of Serum Levels of Copper, Magnesium and Zinc Among Sudanese Smokers

Abstract

A case control study conducted during the period from March 2013 to July 2013, to evaluate the serum levels of copper (Cu), magnesium (Mg) and zinc (Zn) in 60 Sudanese who smoke tobacco cigarettes from Khartoum state and 40 healthy nonsmokers as control group. Age and gender were matched. Blood samples were drawn from all participants andatomic absorption spectrophotometer was used to estimate levels of copper, magnesium and zinc. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS 18.0) wasused for data analysis. The means of serum copper in smokers groupwassignificantly decreased; compared to that of nonsmokers group (P.value = 0.000). There wassignificantly increased means of serum magnesium in the tested group of smokers group when comparing against nonsmokers group (P.value = 0.000) In smokers group there wassignificantly decreased means of serum zinc in a comparison to that tested nonsmokers group (P.value = 0.000.) The smokers group being tested showedpositiveinsignificant correlation between levels of serum copper and number of cigarettes smoked per day. The smokers group also showedpositive insignificant correlation between levels of serum copper and duration of smoking per year. Smoker group showed insignificant correlation (no association) between levels of serum magnesium and number of cigarettes taken per day. Also there wasnegativeinsignificant correlation between levels of serum magnesium and duration of smoking per year. The group of smoker under study showed aweaksignificant negative correlation between levels of serum zinc and the number of cigarettes smoked per day. Yet the group showed no association between the serum levels of zinc and the duration of smoking per year.

From this study, it is concluded that: smoking tobacco cigarette decreases the serum levels of copper and zinc and increases the levels of serum magnesium. Furthermore smoking large number of cigarettes per tends to weakly decreasing the level of serum zinc.