Study of cardiovascular disease biomarkers among tobacco consumers, part 2: biomarkers of biological effect.

An age-stratified, cross-sectional study was conducted in the US among healthy adult male cigarette smokers, moist snuff consumers, and non-tobacco consumers to evaluate cardiovascular biomarkers of biological effect (BoBE). Physiological assessments included flow-mediated dilation, ankle-brachial index, carotid intima-media thickness and expired carbon monoxide. Approximately one-half of the measured serum BoBE showed statistically significant differences; IL-12(p70), sICAM-1 and IL-8 were the BoBE that best differentiated among the three groups. A significant difference in ABI was observed between the cigarette smokers and non-tobacco consumer groups. Significant group and age effect differences in select biomarkers were identified.