Riffat Khurshid, Babar Mannan, Nasir Mahmood, Riffat Ara, Abdul Khaliq Naveed.
Smoking - A risk factor for coronary artery disease.
Pak J Pathol Jan ;12(2):19-22.

Coronary artery disease is caused due to lack of blood supply to the heart tissue. Different risk factors for coronary artery disease like high concentration of serum cholesterol, high blood pressure, excessive intake of animal protein and cigarette smoking have been linked to the development of atheromatous plaque. This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of cigarette smoking on serum cholesterol, selenium and zinc levels in 150 subjects including 50 heavy smokers, 50 patients of myocardial infarction and 50 non-smokers as control subjects. Serum cholesterol level was significantly high (p < 0.001) in patients of MI but no significant increase was observed in smokers. However serum selenium (p < 0.001) and serum zinc levels (p < 0.001) were significantly decreased in patients of MI and in heavy smokers as compared to the controls. Ischemic changes were also observed on ECG in 3 subjects from heavy smokers group. The results indicated smoking as major risk factor for coronary artery disease.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com