(Hypertension. 2001;37:194.)
© 2001 American Heart Association, Inc.
Scientific Contributions |
Effects of Smoking Cessation on Changes in Blood Pressure and Incidence of Hypertension
A 4-Year Follow-Up Study
From the Department of Preventive Medicine (D.-H.L.), College of Medicine, Kosin University, Pusan, Korea; Health Care Center (M.-H.H.), Pohang Steel Company, Pohang, Korea; Department of Preventive Medicine (J.-R.K.), College of Medicine, Gyeongsang National University, Chinju, Korea; and Division of Epidemiology (D.R.J.), School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Correspondence to Duk-Hee Lee, MD, Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Kosin University, 34 Amnam-Dong, Suh-Gu, Pusan, Korea 602-702. E-mail ducky{at}ns.kosinmed.or.kr
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Abstract |
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Abstract—We performed the present study to investigate the effects of smoking cessation on changes in blood pressure and incidence of hypertension. We evaluated 8170 healthy male employees at a steel manufacturing company who had received occupational health examinations at the company’s health care center in 1994 and were reexamined in 1998. Adjustment covariates were the baseline age, body mass index, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, exercise, family history of hypertension, systolic or diastolic blood pressure, and changes in body mass index and alcohol consumption during the follow-up period. The adjusted relative risks of hypertension in those who had quit smoking for <1, 1 to 3, and
3 years were 0.6 (95% CI 0.2 to 1.9), 1.5 (95% CI 0.8 to
2.8), and 3.5 (95% CI 1.7 to 7.4), respectively, compared with current
smokers. The trends for increased risk of hypertension for longer
periods of smoking cessation were observed in subgroups of those who
maintained weight as well as those who gained weight after smoking
cessation. The adjusted increments in both systolic and
diastolic blood pressure were higher in those who had quit
for 1 year than in current smokers. These trends among weight losers,
as well as gainers and maintainers, were similar. We observed
progressive increases in blood pressure with the prolongation of
cessation in men, although at this time the mechanism remains unknown
and must be clarified. This study implies that the cessation of smoking
may result in increases in blood pressure, hypertension, or both.
Key Words: smoking • blood pressure • hypertension • body weight
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Introduction |
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Some epidemiological studies have reported lower blood pressure (BP) in smokers than in nonsmokers.1 This finding is regarded as a paradox, because nicotine has potent sympathomimetic effects, which affects BP levels and heart rate.2 Furthermore, ex-smokers tend to have BPs similar to those of people who never smoked.3 4 The lower average BP found in smokers has occasionally been attributed to differences in relative weight. However, BP differences among smokers and nonsmokers tend to persist even after body weight is controlled.4 The results of follow-up studies on the effects of smoking5 6 or the cessation of smoking7 8 9 on the changes of BP are equivocal.
The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of smoking cessation on the changes of BP and incidence of hypertension in male workers at a steel manufacturing company in the Republic of Korea. Since 1994, this company has campaigned actively for smoking cessation. In addition, we explored BP change according to the duration of smoking cessation and investigated whether the relationship was influenced by changes in weight.
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Methods |
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Study Population
All workers at this steel manufacturing company were required to receive an annual health check-up, which consisted of clinical and laboratory measurements. Throughout 1994, a health check-up was performed between 9 AM and 12 noon, after an overnight fast, in a healthcare center located in the factory. Male workers between 25 and 50 years old without definite hypertension (systolic BP [SBP]
160 mm Hg, diastolic
BP [DBP] 95 mm Hg, or on antihypertensive medication) were
eligible for follow-up in this study. Of the 12 617 men who met these
criteria, 9302 (73.7% follow-up rate) were reexamined in 1998. To
avoid the inclusion of cases of mild hypertension, 851 subjects with
baseline levels of SBP between 140 and <160 mm Hg or of DBP
between 90 and <95 mm Hg were excluded from the study. In
addition, 192 men with hypercholesterolemia,
diabetes mellitus, other known cardiovascular diseases,
and other diseases that required continuous medication were excluded.
We also excluded 89 employees who provided incomplete or
inconsistent information. After all of these exclusions, 8170
men were included in the analysis.
Measurements
Information on lifestyle factors, including cigarette smoking,
alcohol consumption, and exercise; medical history; and family history
of hypertension were obtained primarily through self-report
questionnaires. Each year, all workers were asked to fill out the same,
or slightly modified, questionnaire. For each questionnaire, changes
spotted by a computerized data system (which contained information from
previous years) were confirmed by a nurse in a direct interview. Data
on smoking included the number of cigarettes smoked per day. Nonsmokers
were asked whether they had previously smoked, how many cigarettes per
day they had smoked, and the approximate date of quitting. SBP and DBP
were recorded with an automatic device (TM-2650A; A&D Company) in
the sitting position after the subjects rested on a chair for 5
minutes. For employees with SBP of 160 mm Hg or DBP of
95 mm Hg, BP was measured again with an ordinary
sphygmomanometer by an experienced nurse after an additional 5 minutes
of rest. SBP and DBP were determined with the first and fifth Korotkoff
sounds. Individuals with hypertension were those who had an SBP of
160 mm Hg or a DBP of 95 mm Hg in both measurements.
Those on antihypertensive medication were also considered hypertensive.
Body mass index (BMI) was calculated as weight (kg) divided by height
squared (m2).
Statistical Analysis
The relationship between smoking cessation and change in BP and
the incidence of hypertension were studied by ANCOVA and multiple
logistic model with the Statistical Analysis System (SAS
Institute), version 6.12. Tukey’s method was used for comparisons
among groups. Subjects were placed into one of the following 3 classes
with respect to smoking habits. The numbers of subjects in each class
are shown in parentheses: (1) current smokers (5372), who were subjects
with a history of cigarette smoking at entry and during follow-up
(5356), including attempted quitters and subjects without prior history
of smoking who began to smoke during the follow-up period (16); (2)
current nonsmokers (2090) were subjects with no history of smoking at
baseline and during the follow-up periods (1563) or with a history of
cigarette smoking who did not smoke at the time of entry and during the
follow-up period (527); and (3) quitters (708) were subjects who were
smoking at the beginning of the study but stopped smoking during the
follow-up period and maintained smoking cessation until the
reexamination in 1998. Quitters were further classified according to
their particular length of smoking cessation: those who stopped smoking
for <1 year, those who stopped smoking for >1 year but <3 years, and
those who stopped smoking for 3 years.
Covariates included in the multivariate
analysis were the baseline age, BMI, cigarette smoking
(pack-years), alcohol consumption (grams per week), exercise (times per
week), family history of hypertension, SBP or DBP (baseline for the
dependent variable), and changes in BMI and alcohol consumption
during the follow-up period. To determine whether weight change
modified the association between smoking cessation and BP, we performed
stratified analyses based on weight changes during 4 years.
These individuals were classified as (1) weight loser (weight decrease
of 1 kg, (2) weight maintainer (weight change of <1 kg), or (3)
weight gainer (weight increase of 1 kg). All probability values
quoted are 2-sided, and P<0.05 is regarded as statistically
significant.
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Results |
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Baseline Characteristics
At the beginning of the study, the SBP (P=0.012) and DBP (P<0.000) were significantly different between current smokers and current nonsmokers (Table 1). The variables that were significantly different between smokers and quitters were age (P<0.000), alcohol consumption (P<0.000), smoking amount (P=0.001), and duration of smoking (P=0.048). The quitters were significantly older and drank less than the smokers. Although the quitters smoked fewer cigarettes per day than smokers, they had smoked for a longer duration.
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Changes From Baseline in BP
In adjusted as well as crude analyses, the increments in
both SBP and DBP were significantly different among groups (Table 2). When the quitters were divided into 3
groups according to the duration of smoking cessation, linear trends of
increments in both SBP and DBP, in relation to years of smoking
cessation, were observed. Compared with current smokers, the current
nonsmokers and quitters for 1 to 3 years showed statistically larger
increases in BP, and the quitters for 3 years showed the largest
increase in BP in adjusted analyses. The adjusted changes in BP
in the quitters of <1 year were similar to or even smaller than those
of the current smokers. The coefficients of determination for our final
models were 28.9% for the dependent variable SBP and 22.7% for
the dependent variable DBP.
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Incidence of Hypertension
During the 4-year period, 169 of the 8170 workers (2.1%) became
hypertensive: 48 of the current nonsmokers (2.3%), 96 of the current
smokers (1.8%), and 25 of the quitters (3.5%) (Table 3). Compared with the current smokers,
the crude relative risks were 1.3 (95% CI 0.9 to 1.8) in the current
nonsmokers, 0.8 (95% CI 0.3 to 2.5) in the quitters for <1 year, 1.8
(95% CI 1.0 to 3.4) in the quitters for 1 to 3 years, and 4.8 (95% CI
2.4 to 9.5) in the quitters for 3 years. The adjusted relative risks
of the quitters for <1, 1 to 3, and 3 years also showed a
dose-response relationship: 0.6 (95% CI 0.2 to 1.9), 1.5 (95% CI 0.8
to 2.8), and 3.5 (95% CI 1.7 to 7.4), respectively.
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Stratified Analysis by Weight Change
The mean weight change was -2.3 kg in weight losers, 0 kg in
weight maintainers, and +3.2 kg in weight gainers (Figure, Table 4). Among those who quit smoking, 72.7%
gained weight and 32.9% gained >4 kg. Among those who continued
smoking, 61.6% gained weight and 20.8% gained >4 kg, similar to the
current nonsmokers.
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P values were based on ANCOVA.
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In all 3 weight change groups, increments of both SBP and DBP generally
occurred with the increase in the duration of smoking cessation. The
quitters for 3 years and current nonsmokers showed larger increases
in BP than the current smokers in all groups. However, the quitters for
<1 year among weight losers or maintainers showed a smaller increase
than the current smokers.
Compared with the current smokers, the adjusted relative risks of
incident hypertension in the quitters for 3 years were 3.1 (95% CI
1.3 to 7.5) in the weight gainers, 40.4 (95% CI 4.2 to 385.9) in the
weight maintainers, and 1.4 (95% CI 0.1 to 14.8) in the weight losers.
The incidence of hypertension in the quitters for 1 to 3 years were
also higher than in the current smokers, as seen in the relative risks
of 1.6 (95% CI 0.8 to 3.4) for the weight gainers and 2.7 (95% CI 0.3
to 26.7) for the weight maintainers. The current nonsmokers had a
significantly lower incidence than the current smokers only in the
weight loser group; their relative risk was 0.3 (95% CI 0.1 to
0.9).
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Discussion |
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This 4-year prospective study suggests that the increases in BP among the quitters and current nonsmokers, especially the quitters, were generally larger than those of the current smokers. More interestingly, the increments of BP in the quitters for <1 year were very similar to those of the current smokers. Quitters for
1 year,
however, showed larger increases in BP than did the current smokers.
This trend was observed consistently in all groups classified
by weight changes, despite small numbers in these subgroups.
Furthermore, the incidence of hypertension was also higher in the group
of subjects who had stopped smoking for 1 year, whereas the incidence
was lower in the quitters for <1 year. Relative risks increased in
direct relationship with the increasing periods of smoking cessation.
These relationships were consistently seen as trends in both
weight maintainers and gainers, again despite small numbers at risk
developing hypertension. Although cigarette smoking has been reported to produce an acute rise in BP under laboratory conditions, 1 review1 mentions a fairly consistent negative association between smoking and BP, and a dose-response relationship has been reported in several studies,4 10 with a lower BP observed at increasing levels of cigarette consumption. In addition, there are studies reporting an inverse relationship between cotinine, the major nicotine metabolite, and BP in smokers.11 12 However, follow-up studies have failed to come to a consensus regarding the role of cigarette smoking in the occurrence of hypertension in generally healthy persons.5 6
Previous cross-sectional epidemiological findings have led to the prediction of an increase in BP as a consequence of smoking cessation. However, longitudinal studies3 7 8 9 did not show consistent results. The Normative Aging Study3 reported that greater increases in BP were observed in quitters than in those who continued to smoke. This also occurred in subgroups classified according to weight change during follow-up periods, thus being consistent with our results. However, other longitudinal studies, such as the Framingham study,7 the Evans County study,8 and the Israeli Cordis Study,9 did not show significant increases in BP in subjects after smoking cessation compared with subjects who continued to smoke.
In interpretation of the change in BP after smoking cessation, the influence of smoking cessation on other factors that can affect BP must be considered. These factor include an increase in total food intake and a subsequent increase in weight, and a reduction in alcohol intake.13 A similar trend was observed in this study; however, adjustment of these changes did not alter the relationship. Nevertheless, it is possible for the effect of obesity on BP to not be completely removed through statistical adjustment.6 In the present study, the quitters showed consistently larger increases in BP for all 3 weight change groups and higher incidences of hypertension in both weight maintainers and gainers. This suggests that our result did not come from an insufficient adjustment of body weight changes. The other possible change is that after giving up smoking, the subjects feel a relative increase in stress; many smokers report themselves to be calmer and more relaxed while smoking,14 and some studies have suggested that psychophysiological stress responsiveness was inhibited in habitual smokers compared with nonsmokers.11 15 Therefore, if smoking modifies the pressor response to other stressful environmental stimuli, the long-term outcome of stopping smoking might be an increase in BP, consistent with observed BP differences between smokers and nonsmokers in epidemiological studies.
It has been suggested that the lower BP found in smokers might be only a transient decline in BP. This resulted from the short time off smoking before the measurement of BP. To clarify this question, several studies were performed that measured ambulatory BP. Some have found that smokers have a higher BP,11 16 whereas others have reported similar17 or even lower18 19 BP in smokers. Among these studies, there are many discrepancies in the selection and characteristics of subjects. The withdrawal phenomenon could explain the larger BP increase in the quitters compared with the current smokers in the present study, but it does not seem to be an appropriate explanation for the result of a linear association between the duration of quitting and the increase in BP.
It is possible that our results were influenced by changes in other health-related behavior or that dietary habits we did not measure might modify the effects of smoking cessation. For example, we did not include coffee consumption as a possible confounder. We guess that the quitters may be more health conscious and tend to limit their coffee drinking. Coffee consumption may be modestly associated with higher BP.20 In this scenario, the observed association between smoking cessation and BP change would likely be larger if we could adjust for coffee consumption. Hence, this is not a possible explanation of this study.
We excluded from the analyses mildly hypertensive persons at baseline. Because more mildly hypertensive persons tend to quit smoking and because they more easily become definite hypertensives, they could have distorted the association in our study. However, inclusion of the mildly hypertensives in the analyses caused little change in our results (data not shown). It should also be stressed that the present study was conducted among healthy male workers only and should be replicated among women before any generalizations can be made. Several studies reported that cigarette smoking might differently affect the hemodynamic responses of men and women.21 In addition, the use of a single reading of BP in our study may have served as a drawback. A single reading is generally considered inadequate to determine an individual’s usual BP level because of large random fluctuations in casual readings. However, although random errors due to single determinations weaken the association, they should not cause a spurious association. Moreover, our diagnosis of hypertension was based on 2 measurements of BP.
In summary, the findings of the present study imply that smoking cessation itself may result in increasing BP, even hypertension, in men through an unknown mechanism that needs to be clarified. However, this finding should not distract from the well-known harmful effects of cigarette smoking, nor should it encourage smoking.
Received February 24, 2000; first decision March 17, 2000; accepted July 12, 2000.
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