Cigarette smoking and central adiposity

ABSTRACT

The present study was carried out on 200 male obese subjects. They were nondiabetic nonhypertensive. Their ages ranged between 30 and 60 years. They were divided into two groups, one group included 100 smokers and the other included 100 nonsmokers. Subjects were clinically evaluated with special emphasis on the duration of smoking and the number of cigarettes smoked per day. Some anthropometric measurements were done including estimation of body weight and height, body mass index, waist girth, hip girth and waist/hip ratio. Results showed that there was a statistically significant increase in the waist/hip ratio in the smoker group compared to the nonsmoker group [P= 0.001]. Also, there was a statistically significant correlation between the duration of smoking and both body mass index [BMI] [P= 0.53] and waist/hip ratio [P= 0.026]. So, there was increased central obesity in the smokers than nonsmokers. Thus, smoking may cause redistribution of body fat in the form of more fat in the waist region