One Cigarette Can Affect Heart Function

SEATTLE (Reuters Health) - Smoking just one cigarette can cause an abrupt change in the function of the heart's key pumping chamber, according to research presented here last week at the 12th Annual Scientific Sessions of the American Society of Echocardiography.

Dr. Firas A. Ghanem and colleagues at the Brody School of Medicine of East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, suspected that smoking might immediately, but transiently, impair the function of the left ventricle-the heart's key pumping chamber--between heart muscle contractions. This impairment, also called LV diastolic dysfunction, has been linked to shortness of breath.

Cigarettes did indeed cause changes in left ventricle function, but nicotine chewing gum did not, suggesting that other chemicals act in conjunction with nicotine to cause heart problems, the researchers note.

Ghanem and his colleagues evaluated the effects of smoking and nicotine gum on 27 healthy people. None had any evidence of heart disease, and none were taking any medications.

People were divided into two groups. One group smoked a single cigarette and the second group chewed nicotine gum for 15 minutes. Before and after exposure to either gum or the cigarette, the researchers used a Doppler echocardiogram to measure the blood flow in the heart. Doppler echocardiograms use sound waves to produce images of structures within the body.

In the cigarette group, there were differences in several measures of heart blood flow, but no changes were noted in the second group, before or after chewing nicotine gum.

There were limitations to the study, Ghanem pointed out. The number of patients was small and nicotine levels were not measured. Also, the changes in heart function observed didn't meet clinical criteria for dysfunction of the left ventricle, Ghanem noted. ``In conclusion, immediately after smoking a single cigarette, LV diastolic function, as measured by Doppler echo, significantly worsens,'' Ghanem said. ``Chewing nicotine gum does not seem to have the same effect.''

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