A Comparative Study of Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Cases of Smoked Nicotine and Chewed Nicotine Users.

Objective: To study the cardiovascular risk factors exposed to tobacco chewing and compare these findings with that of smokers and control subjects. Methods: This study was conducted at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh. 180 subjects were included in this study. The subjects were divided in three groups. Group I (Tobacco chewers-chewed nicotine), Group II (Smokers-smoked nicotine) and Group III (control subjects). Each group consists of 60 subjects. Various anthropometric and cardiovascular parameters were recorded and compared among these three groups. Results: Significant difference was found for weight and body mass index (p<0.001) between smokers and control subjects. When compared to control subjects, tobacco chewers had significantly higher pulse rate (p<0.001), systolic blood pressure (p<0.011), diastolic blood pressure (p<0.004) and mean arterial pressure (p<0.001) but no significant difference was found between tobacco chewers and smokers.

Serum tumor necrosis factor-alpha in pre eclampsia.

Cytokines are major contributors in pathogenesis of pre eclampsia. Serum TNF-alpha was determined in 10 normal and 30 pre-eclamptic pregnant females with special reference to maternal age, parity and levels of mean arterial blood pressure. TNF-alpha was determined using sandwich ELISA technique. Serum TNF-alpha level in normal pregnant females was 9.3 +/- 0.56 pg/ml, while in pre-eclamptic pregnant females it was 67.66 +/- 61.83 pg/ml. This increase TNF-alpha was highly significant (P < 0.001). There was no significant changes in serum TNF-alpha with respect to maternal age, parity and mean arterial pressure in both normal and pre-eclamptic pregnancies.