1.3 PAST SMOKERS DECELERATE VASCULAR AGING IN THE LONG TERM

• Main Authors: Dimitrios Terentes-Printzios*, Charalambos Vlachopoulos, Nikolaos Ioakeimidis, Athanasios Aggelis, Panagiotis Xaplanteris, Panagiota Pietri, Dimitrios Tousoulis
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Atlantis Press 2015-11-01
• Series: Artery Research
• Online Access: https://www.atlantis-press.com/article/125930685/view

Objectives: Smoking has an unfavorable effect on arterial properties. Vascular aging is an independent predictor of cardiovascular risk. We examined the effect of quitting smoking on the progression of arterial stiffness. Methods: 142 subjects (mean age 51.9 ± 10.8 years, 94 men) with no established cardiovascular disease were investigated in 2 examinations over a 2-year period. Subjects were categorized in current smokers, non-smokers and ex-smokers. Ex–smokers were further categorized according to the time elapsed since smoking (<5 years, 5–15 years and > 15 years). Subjects had at the beginning and end of the study determinations of carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) and common carotid intima-media thickness. Based on these measurements the annual absolute changes were calculated. Results: Smoking at baseline was not associated with statistically significant differences in PWV and CIMT. However, the annual change of PWV was statistically different between the groups of smokers, non-smokers and the 3 groups of ex-smokers (p = 0.041) after adjustment for relevant confounders. Specifically, smokers had 0.23 m/s/year (95% CI: 0.10 to 0.35), non-smokers 0.17 m/s/year (95% CI: 0.08 to 0.25), quitters (<5 years) had 0.28 m/s/year (95% CI: 0.07 to 0.49), quitters (5–15 years) had 0.35 m/s/year (95% CI: 0.11 to 0.59) and quitters (>15 years) −0.07 m/s/year (95% CI:−0.26 to 0.13). Similar trend for slower progression was observed for CIMT in past smokers (>5 years) but this was not statistically significant. Conclusions: Quitting smoking slows down progression of vascular aging after many years, implying a period of adjustment for former deleterious effects of smoking.