Mohammed Abd Ahmed Rashan, Omar Thanoon Dawood*, Hadeer Akram Abdul Razzaq, Mohamed Azmi Hassali
Background: Cigarette smoking is a risk factor for peripheral vascular disorders and heart disease. The monitoring of lipid profile is very important to give an estimation of the future cardiovascular diseases among smokers. Objectives: The objective of this study is to describe the effects of smoking on the lipid profile status among Iraqi smokers as well as to identify the morbidity risk among smokers and non-smokers. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in the outpatient clinic of the Tikrit General Hospital, Tikrit, Iraq. A total of 143 patients who performed their lipid profile tests in fasting condition were purposively selected. Results: The findings showed that the mean value of total cholesterol in the smokers group (5.23 ± 1.41 mmol/l) was higher than in non-smokers group (4.55 ± 0.90 mmol/l). There was a significant higher level of total cholesterol, triglycerides, low density lipoprotein (LDL) and very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) in the smokers group compared to non-smokers (P<0.001). While the high density lipoprotein (HDL) was lower in the smokers group compared to non-smokers group. In addition, total cholesterol and LDL were significantly associated with the number of cigarettes smoked per day (P<0.001). Conclusions: Cigarette smoking is associated with dyslipidaemia among Iraqi smokers. Total cholesterol and LDL may be considered as the main parameters that are affected by the heaviness of smoking. However, preventive strategies are needed to avoid the future cardiovascular diseases and in supporting the benefits of quit smoking.