The Effect of Cigarette Smoking on Lung Capacity in Active, Previous, and Passive student smokers

Abstract

Background:Cigarette smoke predisposes a person to a lot of preventable diseases; this study aimed at comparing Lung Function in active, previous and non-smokers in students using the ratio of Forced Vital Capacity, to Forced Expiratory Volume measurement in one second called the Tiffeneau-Pinelli Index. Methods: A cross-section of 77 students from the St. James School of Medicine, Anguilla campus in the Caribbean who are active smokers, previous smokers or non-smokers were randomly sampled with consent using questionnaire based study and measurement of FEV/FVC ratio was done. Result: The results showed that the mean FEV/FVC ratio for Smokers was lower than that for non-smokers and Ex-smokers in both test 1 and 2. The FEV/FVC ratio by sex was higher in females for both test 1 and 2. There were significant differences among the races with Caucasians having the lowest mean value of 86.04 and 85.88 for test 1 and 2 respectively. Higher ratio of more than 0.7 for smokers, ex-smokers and non-smokers was recorded for mean FEV/FVC ratio. Conclusion: The FEV/FVC ratio was lower in smokers compared to non-smokers and Ex-smokers though not statistically significant.