Habitual water pipe smoking associated with increased CV risk among apparently healthy young individuals

USA: A recent study published in the journal CHEST has discovered an association between habitual waterpipe tobacco smoking (WPS) and an increased augmentation index (AI) in apparently healthy young individuals from the community.

The augmentation index is a predictor of cardiovascular risk, and one session of WPS acutely increased heart rate (HR) and aortic and brachial blood pressure (BP). 

The study was conducted considering the popularity of waterpipe tobacco smoking among young adults globally which exposes users to toxicants. Hassan A. Chami, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, and colleagues assessed whether WPS is associated with impaired measures of arterial function and does WPS acutely impair these measures in young adults.

For this purpose, the researchers assessed brachial and aortic BP, heart rate, carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (CFPWV), and HR-adjusted augmentation index (AI) in 62 waterpipe smokers and 34 never-smokers who were recruited from the community (mean age 22.5±3.0 years and 48% were females. 

The researchers obtained measurements before and after an outdoor WPS session among smokers and among controls comprising non-smokers who did not smoke. A comparison of measurement was done after versus before exposure among smokers and non-smokers after adjusting for possible confounders using linear regression.