ABSTRACT
The current work was carried out to study the effect of cigarette smoking, age and menopause on the levels of homocysteine, C-reactive protein and soluble intracellular adhesion molecules [sICAM-1] as markers of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular risk in women. The study was carried out on 100 women from the same socioeconomic state divided into two main groups according to their age and menopause. The first group included 50 premenopausal women with ages ranging from 25 to 45 years and this group was divided into two subdivisions according to cigarette smoking [25 nonsmoking women and 25 smoking women]. The second group included 50 postmenopausal women with ages ranging from 50 to 65 years divided into two subdivisions [25 postmenopausal nonsmoking women and 25 smoking women]. The biochemical parameters measured in the serum of all samples were fasting homocysteine, C-reactive protein and sICAM-1. The results showed that there was a significant increase in homocysteine, C- reactive protein and sICAM-1 in the premenopausal smoking, postmenopausal nonsmoking and postmenopausal smoking women in comparison with the premenopausal nonsmoking women