An evaluation of efficacy of cigarette smoking cessation in preventing low levels of serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol

Abstract

Correlation of serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) with cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption habit was investigated in 562 male office workers aged 31 to 60 yr. HDL-C concentrations were found to be positively associated with alcohol consumption in subjects with relative weight below 10%, but a positive association was not observed in obese subjects having relative weight of 10% or above. In contrast, HDL-C levels were significantly lower in smokers than in non-smokers regardless of obesity. The effectiveness of smoking cessation in preventing low levels of serum HDL-C was estimated by comparing prevalence rates of HDL-C levels lower than an arbitrarilty determined HDL-C cutoff value in smokers with those in non-smokers. The estimation was made with unadjusted subjects acd also with subjects adjusted for age, relative weight and alcohol consumption. The effectiveness was found to be considerably high in heavy smokers having lower HDL-C levels (≦35 mg/dl) with or without hypercholesterolemia (≧220 mg/dl) and further remarkably high in all smokers having hypertriglyceridemia (≧300 mg/dl) besides lower HDL-C levels. It is therefore expected that health education focused on stopping smoking can produce favorable alterations in HDL-C for preventing coronary heart disease, especially in heavy smokers having low serum HDL-C levels concomitant with hypercholesterolemia and/or hypertriglyceridemia. © 1991, Japan Society for Occupational Health. All rights reserved.